Sarah Kaufman’s desire to fight in front of her Canadian fans is no longer in doubt. Earlier this week it was announced that Kaufman’s original opponent for April 16’s TUF Nations Finale, Shayna Baszler, was forced to pull out of the fight with injury. The UFC’s Twitter account posted the news with a note asking if any other female bantamweights were willing to step up on short notice to fight Kaufman, who is universally ranked as one of the top 10 women bantamweights in the world. Well it turns out that Brazilian bantamweight Amanda Nunes is up for the challenge, as the UFC yesterday announced that it would be Nunes vs. Kaufman at the TUF Nations Finale. With the addition of Nunes vs. Kaufman to the TUF Nations Finale card, the UFC had to scratch Nunes’ fight against Alexis Dufresne from the UFC on FOX 11 event, although it was later revealed that Dufresne was forced to pull out of that matchup due to an injury, which led the way for Nunes to be removed from it and booked against Kaufman. The Nunes vs. Kaufman bout should be an awesome fight between two great women fighters, and it could potentially be FOTN when it’s all said and done. As for how I see the bout playing out, I believe it’s a bad matchup stylistically for Nunes, who will look to take Kaufman to the ground and beat her up there. But Kaufman has solid grappling and if she’s able to keep the fight on the feet like I believe she will, she should be able to outbox Nunes and win a decision on the scorecards, if not knock Nunes out. As for a line, we’ll get one next week, but in the meantime expect Kaufman to be just over 2-to-1 in this matchup, one that will send the winner closer to the top of the women’s bantamweight rankings. Ozkilic vs. Ortiz Scratched From UFC Fight Night 39 Bettors looking for a line on next week’s Alp Ozkilic vs. Dustin Ortiz fight should be aware they won’t find one as the fight has been scratched from UFC Fight Night 39 due to an injury to Ozkilic. “The Turkish Delight” said a minor injury won’t allow him to compete next week, but he also said that he should be ready to go in a few months. I have a feeling the UFC is going to try and re-book this matchup for a future card, which would explain why there was no attempt made to secure Ortiz a replacement opponent.
