Strikeforce 135 lb. women's champ Ronda Rousey (left) and challenger Sarah Kaufman

By Michael Hatamoto

When Strikeforce bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey steps into the cage against Sarah Kaufman next week for the main event of Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman, there will be no personal issues between the two fighters.

Here is what Rousey had to say during a Strikeforce conference call:

“I respect both Miesha (Tate) and Sarah (Kaufman) as athletes, but I don’t have any problems with Sarah at all.  She’s a pretty cool chick.

The lack of trash talk and hype takes away from the marketing potential of the fight – but certainly won’t damage the championship fight itself.  Rousey has worked to improve her overall MMA skills, while Kaufman has increased her submission fighting defense.

Instead of trying to start up a fake war of words with Kaufman, Rousey decided to instead focus on promoting herself in mainstream media.

Rousey was featured on the cover of ESPN “The Magazine Body Issue,” hosted a live episode of TMZ, documented on Showtime’s ‘All Access,’ and is being interviewed on Conan tonight.  The media attention has forced the champion to shuffle her training schedule due to the added media responsibilities, but hasn’t overlooked Kaufman.

Showtime hasn’t done a great job promoting Strikeforce events, and the promotion’s roster is dwindling, but women’s MMA has a solid platform to perform.  If Rousey beats Kaufman, there are plenty of opportunities for the judoka to continue her trash talk – a future rematch with Miesha Tate is possible, or the return of ‘Cyborg’ may offer another interesting matchup.