UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes is days away from defending the gold against Raquel Pennington in the main event of UFC 224.
Sarah Kaufman recently captured the Invicta FC Bantamweight Title and she would like an opportunity to become the UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion.
“I know that I deserve to be a champion,” Kaufman said on The MMA Hour. “I feel like I match-up so well with the current [UFC] champ Amanda Nunes and so I just needed to prove to myself, prove to everyone, that my performances speak for themselves and I wanted the finish. I knew that it was there for me. I knew I’d make it happen, but it was a matter of pulling that trigger and actually going for it and not overthinking things, which I have in the past. So it definitely was that relief of people are going to finally start to see again how good I can be and how much I can bring to the sport of MMA.”
Kaufman has been talking about returning to the UFC for quite some time now, having been undefeated since she wasn’t re-signed by the promotion a few years back.
When it comes to the title bout at UFC 224, it really doesn’t matter to Kaufman whom she potentially faces for the gold in the future.
“I would be happy to fight either, but I’ve always wanted to fight Amanda since Strikeforce,” Kaufman said. “I remember telling my coach Adam (Zugec), ‘I want to fight her, I’m gonna beat her.’ … I was just always very confident, so I guess I’d like Amanda to win and then to be able to have that fight. But I’d be really happy for Raquel if she won as well.”
The new Invicta FC Champion won just one of four during her initial UFC run, with that lone win coming over Leslie Smith at the UFC Ultimate Fighter Nations Finale.
