Strikeforce Challengers: Sarah Kaufman to replace Kim Couture against Miesha Tate on May 15

Female wrecking ball Sarah Kaufman (8-0) will put her undefeated record on the line when she fills in for Kim "Randy Free" Couture against rising star Miesha Tate (6-1) in a 135-pound contest during the televised portion of the inaugural Strikeforce Challengers mixed martial arts (MMA) event at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif., on Friday, May 15.

Strikeforce officials confirmed the change earlier this morning.

Couture withdrew from the event for "personal reasons" that were later outed as a pending divorce on Tate's MySpace page. Tate subsequently apologized and denied knowledge of marital problems, however, Rawvegas.tv has since confirmed that Kim was slapped with divorce papers by the former UFC heavyweight champ.

Enter Sarah Kaufman.

The 23-year-old Canadian is coming off her eighth stoppage in as many tries after handily dispatching Sara Schneider in the second round of their matchup at Palace Fighting Championships on April 23.

From Kaufman:

"I’m very excited about this fight because I’ve been hearing about Miesha Tate for quite a while. I know she has good wrestling and she’s been pretty active. She’s probably going to want to take the fight to the ground and I’ll want to stay standing so it should be an interesting matchup. I have the ability to put a lot of punches together because my conditioning is always really strong. I let my hands go and, at the same time, I don’t mind taking a shot to give a shot so I think that’s why I’ve performed the way I have so far."

That punching power is a factor that Tate will likely be weary of on fight night … especially if she wants to extend her current win streak to five.

Still, Tate is enjoying her new role:

"I like being the underdog because I have everything to gain and nothing to lose. I think (Kaufman)’s in for a surprise because she’s probably figuring that she’s beaten opponents that fight similar to me. But, she hasn’t fought me yet."

The Victory Athletics product has beaten Jamie Lynn Welsh, Jessica Bednarek and Dora Baptiste — each with first round stoppages — since winning her debut under the Strikeforce banner by unanimous decision over Elaina Maxwell on the "Melendez vs. Thomson" card last summer.

The only loss thus far in her career was a brutal first round knockout (head kick) courtesy of former Gina Carano foe, Kaitlin Young, during a one-night BoDog Fight-promoted tournament back in November of 2007.

She's been in cruise-control ever since.

Strikeforce Challengers will feature undefeated lightweight sensation Billy Evangelista (9-0) facing off with hard-hitting brawler and BJ Penn protégé "Iron" Mike Aina (11-6-1) in the main event live on SHOWTIME at 11 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast) from the Save Mart Center.

Also on the telecast, Aaron Rosa (11-2) will meet Anthony "A Train" Ruiz (21-12) in a light heavyweight fight while Lavar "Big" Johnson (11-3) will square off with Carl Seumanutafa (4-2).

Tickets for the first Strikeforce Challengers event are on sale at the Save Mart Center box office and select Save Mart Supermarkets as well as at all Ticketmaster locations (800-745-3000), Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com) and Strikeforce’s official website (www.strikeforce.com).