At Invicta FC 29, Sarah Kaufman became only the second fighter to ever hold titles in both Strikeforce and Invicta with her victory over Katharina Lehner. Having not fought since then, she’s been dying to do so.
Sarah Kaufman is one of the best 135-pound fighters in the world today and has been immensely underrated throughout her career and continues to be. Seemingly hungrier than ever following her departure from the UFC in 2015, the Invicta champ wants to be as active as possible.
“I’m in my prime… Although you wouldn’t know it because I haven’t fought since May [2018],” Kaufman told MMAFighting at UFC Brooklyn. “But I’m ready to go.”
A very experienced veteran, Kaufman has had trouble finding opponents outside of the UFC as well as in it. However, a challenger would emerge at Invicta FC 32 as the hot prospect Julia Avila continued to show why she’s a future threat to everyone in the division.
Sadly, Avila suffered a broken thumb that required surgery in her beatdown of Alexa Connors in that last outing. Thus prompting the Canadian to explore some other options.
“Unfortunately there are no girls at 135 [pounds] in Invicta who are willing to fight me,” Kaufman said. “The only one, Julia Avia, has a broken thumb and so it’s just been months of me sitting.
“I’d love to fight for the 145 title that they just made in Invicta. Amanda Nunes is the champ-champ, I could be the champ-champ, then we could have a champ-champ-champ-champ fight!”
Assuming that Kaufman was to get the 145-pound title shot next in Invicta, that would mean she would be taking on the unbeaten ‘Feenom’, Felicia Spencer who won the title by defeating Pam Sorenson with a fourth-round submission (rear-naked choke) at the very same event that Avila last fought at last.
However, Kaufman would reveal that this wasn’t some new idea for her.
“I wanted this before when [Daniel Cormier] became the champ-champ.” Kaufman stated. “I wanted it before, it didn’t pan out… But it can now.
“I want to be the best in the world. I know that I can be the best in the world and that I am the best in the world. But in order to do that, I have to fight them.
“2019 is my year,” Kaufman continued. “Amanda Nunes, she needs a challenger. The [UFC] bantamweight division in 2018 had 12 fights in 12 months. Unacceptable, we need more. And the reason is, we need more people who at ’35 are gonna come in, bring fire, bring passion, and make the fans excited. And I am that person.”
Both being vets of Strikeforce who were absorbed by the UFC, Kaufman and current UFC bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes were set to fight at The Ultimate Fighter: Nations finale in April 2014.
Unfortunately, Nunes suffered an injury that forced her out of the bout, therefore, leading to Leslie Smith taking her place. Kaufman would get the win via unanimous decision.
If either of those matchups will happen for one of Canada’s finest is unknown. But what is known is that she deserves to be testing herself against the best in the world like she once was.
With Invicta’s first two events coming in February and March, Kaufman even said that she would happily fight on both if given the chance.
