Introducing Takayo Hashi and Sarah Kaufman

Tonight on Showtime Strikeforce's latest Challenger series features a female welterweight fight between Takayo Hashi and Sarah Kaufman for the promotion's vacant title.

Originally Strikeforce placed the history making fight as the co-main event but earlier this week the promotion elevated Kaufman vs. Hashi to the main event.

Kaufman (10-0) has fought in Strikeforce twice before, defeating both Miesha Tate and Shayna Baszler via unanimous decision (videos after the jump). Sarah's previous eight fights all ended via (T)KO. Surprisingly, Kaufman was a dancer before discovering martial arts in British Columbia. Most observers have pegged Sarah Kaufman as a rising star within women's MMA, yet she won't ffollow the Gina Carano path as it isn't her "style".

Takayo Hashi (12-1) will be making her Strikeforce debut and has only fought twice in the past two years. Hashi is known as a grappler as none of her wins have come via (T)KO while she placed third in her weight class at the 2007 ADCC's. Hashi even received the nickname the "Grappling Queen" in Smackgirl's open-weight division. Despite that branding Takayo recently said she wanted to stand and trade with Sarah. WKR won't hold our breath on that one. 

Strikeforce is also planning to hold a 135lbs. female tournament between either four or eight fighters to face the winner of Kaufman-Hashi.

SBN coverage of Strikeforce Challengers: Prangley vs. Amoussou

(Check out WKR's podcast preview of Hashi vs. Kaufman)

Pre-fight Interviews

Sarah Kaufman Tape Watching Session:

Sarah Kaufman vs. Shyna Baszler

Sarah Kaufman vs. Miesha Tate

Sarah Kaufman vs. Ginele Marquez

Takayo Hashi Tape Watching Session

Takayo Hashi vs. Chisa Yonezawa

Takayo Hashi vs. Miki Morifuji