Going into Friday night’s Strikeforce Challengers card, I along with many others were confused by Strikeforce. We were puzzled by the company’s decision to not only have their women’s 135lb. champion defend her title on a Challengers Series card, but also to have it not be the main-event of the evening.

Instead of writing a pre-event article highlighting my distaste for this decision, I waited until after. This way the women would have an opportunity to prove my point before I ever had to. As expected, it was an all out war between two of the best female fighters on the planet.

From the opening bell where challenger Roxanne Modafferi opened up with a leaping flying knee, until the earth shattering slam landed by champion Sarah Kaufman, these two women put on a fight for the ages.

The fight was a clinch war throughout, with both women struggling for under hooks and positioning up against the cage. Despite the massive strength disadvantage, Modafferi used posture and technique to gain an early advantage, taking the fight to the mat where she was superior. From there, Modafferi controlled position and nullified Kaufman’s muay-thai attack.

The second round was an entirely different story. Kaufman came out aggressive, determined, and hungry, using her strength to push Modafferi up against the cage and punish her with flush punches to the face and digging knees that likely made breathing difficult for the challenger. Kaufman finished with a flurry of that seemingly landed cleanly on Modafferi’s face, likely winning her the round and tying the bout at one round a piece.

The third round saw both women working ferociously to implement their game plans. Kaufman continued to punish Modafferi with knees to the ribs; however she was victim to multiple takedowns and guard pulls. In the final minute of the bout as Modafferi was attempting an arm bar from guard Kaufman picked her up and slammed her unconscious, thereby ending the bout.

It goes without saying that these two women had a phenomenal bout that deserved not only main event status on a Challengers card, but also a fight on one of the much more publicized Showtime cards.

Following the performance, Bloody Elbow writer Jonathan Snowden posted an article where he argued that Kaufman is not ready for main Showtime or CBS cards. His article can be found here. To give you an idea, the last paragraph states:

I’m not sure who is in her head, encouraging her to dismiss the enormous opportunities given to her, to bury the promotion that gave her a chance, to ignore the inconvenient fact that fans haven’t yet embraced her-or females fighting. There’s a word for celebrities like this, the ones who lose touch with reality and think they’re a little bit more important than they really are: it’s Diva. Last night was a great night for Sarah Kaufman. But judging by her speech last night, if you’re looking to congratulate her she won’t be down with the masses-Sarah Kaufman will be in VIP.

He does make some good points throughout the article. On a five fight Showtime card, Kaufman would not garner the attention of a Dan Henderson or Fedor Emelianenko, that’s a given. My argument would be that the Challengers cards are put together for champions of the future to sharpen their tools and master their craft. Kaufman is already a champion. No, she is not dominating her opponents in the same was Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos is, but she is winning, and that should count for something.

Snowden also brings up Kaufman’s victory of Takayo Hashi stating that fans” left in droves during Kaufman’s fight” and using the argument that it was one sided and very uninteresting. Little of this blame can be put on Kaufman as she was pushing the pace and trying to engage with an opponent that refused. I liken this to the flack Anderson Silva took in his bout against Thales Leites at UFC 97. On a personal note, I did not think the fight was as bad as Snowden obviously did and found the bout entertaining, even if one sided.