Undefeated power puncher Sarah Kaufman (10-0) will challenge Japan’s Takayo Hashi (12-1) in the first STRIKEFORCE women’s world bantamweight (135 pounds) championship matchup in history while Luke Rockhold (6-1), one of MMA’s brightest up and comers, will take on Paul Bradley (12-1) at middleweight.

Tickets for the first STRIKEFORCE Challengers event of 2010, priced from $30, go on sale at 10 a.m. PT tomorrow/Friday, January 22 at The San Jose Civic Auditorium box office, Ticketmaster (800-745-3000) and online at Ticketmaster.com and STRIKEFORCE.com.

Since 1993 when STRIKEFORCE was founded as a kickboxing series, The San Jose Civic Auditorium has played host to numerous events produced by the organization that more recently emerged a leading promoter of MMA contests.

Prangley, a former national wrestling champion for South Africa who ventured to The United States years ago in order to further his wrestling career, will put on the line a five fight win streak that began with his unanimous judges’ decision victory over Anthony Ruiz during STRIKEFORCE’s event at the world famous Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, California on September 20, 2008.  The 37-year-old also finished as runner up in STRIKEFORCE’s four man tournament, the first sanctioned single elimination MMA event in California state history, on November 16, 2007.

The 24-year-old Amoussou, known for his devastating knockout power and unorthodox fighting style, hails from France and is an expert in Judo as well as Savate.  He brings a three fight win streak with him to the STRIKEFORCE cage.

Kaufman is a 24-year-old former professional ballet dancer who stumbled upon MMA after a martial arts school opened underneath her dance studio in Victoria, Canada.  Her mellow demeanor outside the cage is a stark contrast to her ferocity inside it, which has helped her knock out 8 of her 10 opponents.

In her last effort, Kaufman earned a unanimous judges’ decision over Shayna “The Queen of Spades” Baszler during the STRIKEFORCE Challengers event at Kent Washington’s ShoWare Center on June 19, 2009.

The 32 year old Hashi of Honbu, Tokyo is a former champion of Japan’s Smackgirl MMA promotion. Since suffering the only defeat of her career to Hitomi Akano on August 17, 2005, Hashi has reeled off eight straight victories, including a revenge win over Akano on September 6, 2007.

In other action, James Terry (7-1) of San Jose will square off with Tarec Saffiedine (7-2) of Temecula, California in a welterweight (170 pounds) bout while Raul Castillo (6-0) of Half Moon Bay, California will face fellow unbeaten middleweight Yancy Medeiros (4-0) of Waianae, Hawaii.

San Jose Civic Auditorium doors will open for the STRIKEFORCE event at 5:15 p.m. PT.  The first preliminary bout will begin at 6:00 p.m. and the first main card bout will begin at 8.00 p.m.

The live SHOWTIME® telecast of the STRIKEFORCE Challengers event will begin at 11 p.m. E.T./P.T. (delayed on the west coast).

STRIKEFORCE in March 2009 signed a multi-year agreement to stage live MMA events on premium cable television network SHOWTIME.  The promotion made its live, primetime debut on CBS with the “Fedor vs. Rogers” mega-fight that it co-promoted with M-1 Global on Saturday, November 7 and generated 5.46 million viewers for the main event between the world’s number one heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, and superstar Brett “The Grim” Rogers.

STRIKEFORCE Challengers is a proving ground for up-and-coming MMA fighters. The series is designed to provide today’s top prospects with the opportunity to step-up their level of competition and demonstrate their ability in a nationally televised event.

About STRIKEFORCE

STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com <http://www.strikeforce.com/> ) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history.  The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265.  Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE, sanctioned by ISKA, has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts (MMA) series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.”  In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose.

Photo courtesy of StrikeForce

Source: Mike Afromowitz, StrikeForce

Zaromskis is coming off an utter destruction of Myeon Ho Bae, winning by 0:19, first-round KO on Oct 25. The victory earned Zaromskis the 2009 DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix crown. Remarkably, it was the third consecutive time Zaromskis won a fight with a head kick in the opening round. On July 20, 2009, he defeated both Jason High (2:22) and heavily favored Hayoto Sakurai (4:03) with head kicks to win DREAM’s 170-pound tournament.

Zaromskis turned pro on Feb. 4, 2000. He fought several times for UK-based Cage Rage before joining DREAM in early 2009. Two of his three losses came against former Cage Rage British champion in Che Mills <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Mills> .

STRIKEFORCE in March 2009 signed a multi-year agreement to stage live MMA events on the premium cable television network, SHOWTIME.   Next Saturday, November 7, STRIKEFORCE will make its live debut on CBS with its “Fedor vs. Rogers” mega-fight that it is co-promoting with M-1 Global.

About STRIKEFORCE

STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com <http://www.strikeforce.com/> ) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history.  The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265.  Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.”  In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose.

Source: Mike Afromowitz, StrikeForce

The 1982 Heisman Trophy winner and two-time Pro Bowl competitor will soon embark on a 12-week training camp at AKA. The 6-foot-1 inch, 220- pound former running back, who holds a fifth degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and boasts additional training in the combat disciplines of Muay Thai and Kenpo, will be trained by AKA co-owner and head trainer Bob Cook.

About STRIKEFORCE

STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com <https://mail.svse.net/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.strikeforce.com/> ) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history.  The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold out, record crowd of 18,265.

Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.”  In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000 to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose.

About M-1 Global

M-1 Global (www.m-1global.com) has been one of the leading Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) organizations in the world for over a decade. M-1 has promoted over 150 shows worldwide since 1995.  Billed as the “World Cup of Mixed Martial Arts,” the M-1 Challenge is a full season of MMA events that showcases some of the best up and coming MMA fighters in the world. Broadcast to over 90 countries around the world, including HDNet in the United States, the M-1 Challenge pits teams of five fighters representing their respective countries against each other for international bragging rights and the title of M-1 Challenge Champions. Fighters who succeed on the M-1 Challenge’s international breeding ground will earn the opportunity to participate in major MMA events presented by M-1 Global and their promotional partners such as STRIKEFORCE.