This Fri, July 23rd, Strikeforce Women's 135lb Champion, Sarah Kaufman (11-0), will take on veteran fighter Roxanne Modafferi (15-5) in the Co-Main Event of the Strikeforce Challengers show taking place inside Comcast Arena in Everett, WA and being broadcast live on Showtime. This will be 24 year old Kaufman's first title defense after winning the belt in February by beating Takayo Hashi via Unanimous Decision after five rounds. NW Fightscene had an opportunity to speak with the Victoria, BC fighter on Sunday about the upcoming bout and more...

NW Fightscene: Got your fight coming this Friday, how are you feeling?
Sarah Kaufman: I feel great actually. I just went for my morning run. Weight's really good.

NWFS: This fight is at 135. Have all of your fight's been at this weight?
Kaufman: My very first fight was 145, I really didn't cut much. My next couple after that were at 140, and then from there 135.

NWFS: Is this a comfortable weight for you?
Kaufman: Yeah, it's a great weight for me. Its definitely the weight I should be at and I feel really comfortable at.

NWFS: You're going to be fighting Roxanne Modafferi on Friday. She just beat Tara LaRosa which obviously is a big deal. She's a seasoned fighter. What are your thoughts about her?
Kaufman: I feel that she's a great fighter. She's been around the game for a while.  But I also think its a really good fight for me stylistically.

NWFS: What do you mean?
Kaufman: I mean I obviously like to strike. I feel pretty confident with my hands. I also feel confident in both my takedown offense and defense. And then I feel comfortable on the ground. I'm kind of getting to that point where I don't really feel like I have any one spot where I'd be in real big danger if I got there.

NWFS: You've been known as a striker, but as you say you're more comfortable on the ground. I heard you're a purple belt now in BJJ.
Kaufman: Yeah, I'm a purple belt under Marcus Soares and Adam Zugec.

NWFS: Talk about coach Adam Zugec, as well as your training partners who have been helping you out.
Kaufman: Adam, I've been with him since I first started training and I definitely wouldn't want to be with any other coach. To me its always been the funniest thing when people are like 'So, when are you going to move?', and to me its like I've been with Adam the whole time and he's the one that's brought me the success and brought me along and why would I ever change that. So he's just a great all-around coach, in terms of making game plans, in terms of the training, the conditioning, all that kind of stuff, is awesome. And I also work with Tyler Goodale who's my strength coach. He also works with a lot of the Olympic athletes at the Pacific Institute (PISE) out here in Victoria. So that's awesome to have that supplement my training as well. And then my team: Nick Driedger, Connor Wood, Diego Wilson, are all awesome guys and awesome fighters. And then I also have the rest of the team, we have Tarek Gabali, Ryan Ford comes out, we have Andrew Jorgensen, Tyler Dolby, Tyler Nicholson. Just this great group of people. Its funny that we are all in the smaller range. We don't have too many huge, huge guys and so its nice because I have a lot of people who fight around 135, 145, 155 to train with.

Sarah w/ Adam Zugec and Greg Jackson

NWFS: You got into the sport at 17, is that right?
Kaufman: I did. I started Thai Boxing at 17. The next year I added in a little bit more and then the year after that more grappling, more kickboxing, and then just full on whatever I could do.

NWFS: Could you have imagined your success now some years later?
Kaufman: Definitely not. Its not anything I thought I'd do, not anything that I even wanted to do. It was just something that really came along and I love it... It was really just have fun and get better at whatever I was enjoying doing, and it ended up that I really enjoy fighting.

NWFS: You're ranked number one in the world at 135 lbs, but do you have any desire to go up to 145 and fight [Strikeforce 145lb Champ] Cris "Cyborg" Santos?
Kaufman: I love 135. 135 is the division I should be at and that I want to be at. But if the right opportunity came up for me to take that fight, its definitely a possibility and it would make for an exciting fight.

NWFS: Are you going to have a lot of friends and family come down to Everett on Friday to support you?
Kaufman: I think I'll have about 40 people making the trip over. Considering you have to take the ferry and the bus and all that kind of stuff, its pretty decent.

NWFS: Are you working at all?
Kaufman: I work at the gym at Zuma Martial Arts. I run the office and I teach Thai Boxing classes for the ladies, and for the kids I teach MMA as well.

NWFS: How about sponsors? Who do you have that's helping you out?
Kaufman: Currently my sponsors are MMA Rising, Performance MMA, PrettyToughFighter.com, and Clinch Gear.

Many thanks to Sarah for taking the time to speak with NWFS. She fights this Friday night, July 23rd, in Everett, Washington against Roxanne Modafferi in the Co-Main Event of Strikeforce Challengers and which will be aired on Showtime. More info is at Strikeforce.com. Sarah is training out of Zuma Martial Arts located at 1035 Alston Street in Victoria, BC and online at www.zuma.tv. Fans can check out Sarah's latest happenings by visiting her website sarahkaufman.ca, following her at twitter.com/mmasarah, and checking her out on Facebook.