This was briefly mentioned on page four of another thread, but the top contender's bout between Sarah Kaufman (10-0-0) and Takayo Hashi (12-1-0) at Strikeforce Challengers 5 on November 20th is off.
http://www.mmarising.com/news/2009/10/27/kaufman-vs-hashi-off-strikeforce-challengers-5/
It may be rescheduled for 2010, but that's not confirmed yet, nor is the cause for the bout's cancellation.
November was going to feature four women's bouts in Strikeforce, but now the two better ones (this one, plus the Toughill vs Coenen one) - both likely title eliminators - are out, so we're left with two.
What??? The Toughil vs. Coenen fight is off too??? I had a family crisis this week, so must have missed it. Why are these fights off? What's wrong with Strikeforce that they can't include the better women fighting? No offense to Kerry... I'm sure she's going to be awesome.
Erin withdrew due to an "undisclosed medical condition."
The remaining fights are Kerry Vera vs Kim Couture and Zoila Frausto vs Elisha Helsper.
Kerry is a very talented striker and seems to have a very bright future ahead of her. Even better, she's very humble and her coaches seem to have a good plan for her and her career.
Kim is by no means without any talent at all, but she's annoyed some people over the past few months with her belittling of others, pro wrestling antics and apparent attitude that she's entitled to a lot more than she has earned. I've seen comments from other female fighters, including some who have trained with her, and she doesn't appear to be overly popular.
Zoila has good striking, but also has a relatively negative reputation for issues with making weight and a late withdrawl from a previous bout, which I believe was also for Strikeforce. I was very surprised when they gave her a second chance. She's undefeated (though she received a gift decision in her first fight) and the favourite to win her fight.
I don't know much about Elisha, but I'm sure that she's going to try to make the most of her opportunity on November 6th and I hope that she can pull off the "upset" victory.
Having said all of that, the loss of the other two fights kind of overshadows the ones that remain.