With just over three weeks until the event, a highly-anticipated women’s bout between undefeated Canadian Sarah Kaufman and top Japanese contender Takayo Hashi has been removed from the November 20th Strikeforce Challengers 5 card. The fight may be rescheduled for 2010.

Kaufman confirmed speculation that she would no longer be facing Hashi at the event earlier today. The bantamweight bout was conspicuously absent from the fight card when Strikeforce released their revamped website design early yesterday, which sparked rumours that the fight was off.

Kaufman (10-0-0) was victorious over standout wrestler Miesha “Takedown” Tate and submission ace “The Queen of Spades” Shayna Baszler in her first two outings for Strikeforce and seems to be in line to compete for a soon-to-be created Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Championship.

When the fight with Hashi was first announced, it was speculated that the bout could be contested for a title, though Kaufman later confirmed that it would be a non-title affair.

Hashi (12-1-0) is one of the top female fighters in Japan today. She avenged her lone career loss when she defeated Hitomi “Girlfight Monster” Akano in September of 2007 and followed that up with a huge win over Amanda Buckner.

She was expected to be a tough test for Kaufman, but will now have to wait at least until 2010 to get a shot at the Canadian.

While visa issues may be the cause of the cancellation, no details have been released yet other than Kaufman’s confirmation that the fight will not take place on the card.

Another women’s bout, between rising star Kerry Vera and Kim “Sugar Free” Couture, remains on the card and is tentatively slated as the co-main event.

The fight is part of a clever marketing ploy by Strikeforce to take advantage of the bout between Kerry’s husband Brandon and Kim’s ex-husband Randy at UFC 105 six days earlier.

The loss of the Kaufman vs Hashi bout is a significant blow to the November 20th card, which is headlined by a welterweight contest between undefeated Tyron “T-Wood” Woodley and Rudy Bears.