The women will once again take centre stage this Friday at Strikeforce Challengers 6. The promotion confirmed earlier today that the Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight (135-Pound) Championship bout between Sarah Kaufman and Takayo Hashi will now serve as the night’s main event.

The card was originally set to feature a non-title middleweight bout between Trevor Prangley and Karl “Psycho” Amoussou as the headliner, but Strikeforce wisely opted to promote the women’s title fight to main event status as it crowns the first Strikeforce 135-pound female champion.

Kaufman (10-0-0) will put her undefeated record on the line when she steps into a Strikeforce cage for the third time on Friday. The first and only Hardcore Championship Fighting Women’s Bantamweight Champion will be looking to capture her second major title. A victory over the highly-regarded Hashi would solidify Kaufman’s place among the pound-for-pound best in the women’s division of MMA.

Hashi (12-1-0) enters the title bout on an eight-fight winning streak that includes victories over Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano and Amanda Buckner. The talented ground fighter was the final holder of the Smackgirl Middleweight (128-Pound) Championship and will make her Strikeforce debut against Kaufman. Hashi has stated her intentions to showcase her improved striking in hopes of a knockout.

Interviews with both Kaufman and Hashi can be found here and here.