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Sara McMann wants to return against Sarah Kaufman

Published May. 14, 2014 8:00 p.m. ET

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When we last saw Sara McMann, her UFC women's bantamweight championship opportunity was concluding nearly as quickly as it began. All it took for Ronda Rousey was 66 seconds and a perfectly placed knee to the liver to at least temporarily stamp out McMann's championship aspirations.

As is her style, the private McMann quickly disappeared from public view, retreating back home to South Carolina.

Almost three months later, however, the former wrestling Olympian is "itching" to get back into the limelight of the UFC cage, her manager Monte Cox told UFC Tonight's Ariel Helwani.

And McMann (7-1) has a target: former Strikeforce champ Sarah Kaufman.

Sounds like a good matchup, but of course this has to be complicated, right? Seems that Kaufman has other plans, as she told Helwani that she is more interested in fighting either Cat Zingano or Miesha Tate, both because they are bigger names and coming off victories.

Zingano (8-0) hasn't fought for over a year, but recently said she's ready to return. Meanwhile, Tate (14-5) is coming off a victory over Liz Carmouche in April, although she has sounded lukewarm on a rematch with Kaufman, who she fought back in 2009.

All things considered, the McMann-Kaufman fight makes plenty of sense. McMann is ranked No. 4 and Kaufman No. 5 in the most recent poll results. Will it happen? That's anyone's guess, but Cox said that McMann wants to be very active, because at age 33, she only plans to compete for 2-3 more years.

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