The Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title bout between champion Ronda Rousey (5-0-0) and no. 1 contender Sarah Kaufman (15-1-0) is officially set to take place August 18th, at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California.

This is the first title defense for newly crowned champ, and infamous arm-breaker, Ronda Rousey. While the former champ, Sarah Kaufman, looks to regain the title, and prove why she feels Rousey is overrated.

Scott Coker, the Stirkeforce CEO, stated today that the card is official, and tickets will go on sale this Friday for Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman.

Rousey is coming off the spectacular first round armbar performance that captured the belt from former champion Meisha Tate in March. The fight lasted 4:27 before Rousey dislocated Tates arm, which is twice as long as all of Rousey’s previous fights have gone. The Olympic Judo bronze medalist has finished all of her opponents via armbar in the first round, skyrocketing her to the top of womens MMA, and earning her a title shot that she took full advantage of.

Kaufman on the other hand, see’s things a little differently. Coming off of a hard fought and bloody scrap with a totally game adversary in Alexis Davis, Kaufman earned the right to fight for the coveted title next. Previous to the fight with Davis, Kaufman had defeated japanese standout Megumi Yabushita, and Liz Carmouche. Kaufman felt that Rousey hadn’t earned a shot at the title in the first place, and that she trash talked her way into the match. Kaufman looks to back her statements up on August 18th in San Diego and retain the title that she lost to Marloes Coenen in October of 2010.

Regardless of Sarah Kaufman’s position on how quickly Ronda Rousey climbed the ranks, it is clearly well deserved. Rousey has dominated all of her opponents to date, and her grappling prowess has yet to be matched in the Strikeforce cage. Kaufman on the other hand, has for the most part boxed her way up the womens ranks, and she has the laterals to prove it. This match should be a classic grappler versus striker fight, but with the ever evolving skills of this great sports competitors, it is hard to say. My guess is that Kaufman hits Rousey, and Rousey does what she does best, Judo throws and armbars.

The other announced match-ups for the August 18th card include Roger Bowling fighting Tarec Saffiedine, Ovince St. Preux against T.J. Cook, and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza against Derek Brunson.

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