Hello? (tap tap tap) Is this thing on?
Former Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion Sarah Kaufman is calling ... but no one is answering. That includes former division No. 1 contender Miesha Tate, who wants to avenge her loss to Cat Zingano, or perhaps steal the spotlight from top Brazilian contender Bethe Correia.
Does that make her a coward? Kaufman breaks it down for FOX Sports:
"I get that Ronda (Rousey) is the goal and Ronda is my goal, but we can't get there without fights. For these girls to try and take safe fights and ensure they don't have a high chance of losing and they get these records where they have 10 wins in the UFC but they are all against the bottom half of the group. You need to fight people who have big names and who are higher ranked than you. You don't move up by twiddling your thumbs and just calling out Ronda on Twitter. That's not how it should be, and it's a little bit cowardly for that to be the way that it's going. Miesha and I have exchanged on Twitter before and she'll seemingly answer every other person on Twitter, that's how she got the (Sara) McMann fight, that's how she was talking about getting a Bethe (Correia) fight, and supposedly she called me out in April, saying after her fight with Liz Carmouche she wanted one of three people -- Sarah Kaufman, Holly Holm or Gina Carano. Well, I said, 'Sweet, let's do it.' This would be an awesome fight. She can take a beating, and I'm happy to give her one. As soon as I went online, she disappeared. No response whatsoever. It's insane, and the only thing it comes down to is if she'll fight everyone in the division but me, that makes you a coward. It's as simple as that. Why wouldn't you want that fight back?"
Tate dropped a unanimous decision to Kaufman back in 2009.
The Canadian is understandably frustrated (which explains this video), having not competed for almost a year. In addition, she is 2-0 (one no contest) since abandoning the ranks of Strikeforce and needs big fights in order to work her way back up to a Ronda Rousey rematch.
Anyone?