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| Sheila Gaff with coach Andre Balschmieter |
The Dutch website Ground And Pound reported this afternoon that German fighter Sheila Gaff has signed a four fight UFC deal and will face 2004 Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann on UFC 159 Apr. 27 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. Sara McMann won a silver medal for wrestling at the 2004 Olympics. Her MMA record is 6-0 and her last match was a win over Shayna Baszler on the July 28 Invicta show. One would think that she would want to use her wrestling to control the match. But for some reason she got it into her head that she wanted to be a kickboxer and it almost cost her that fight. I see fighters do this all the time. They go away from their specialty in the misguided desire to be a well rounded fighter. It never works. She was lucky to escape that fight with a win. Sara signed with Strikeforce and was supposed to fight in October but got injured. Sheila is only 23 years old but her record is 10-4-1 with six of her wins ending in some form of knockout. Her last fight was a ten second KO of Jennifer Maia on the Mar. 16 Cage Warriors show. Sheila is a very aggressive striker. But sometimes that aggression gets her in trouble. I recall watching her come out with guns a-blazing against Romy Ruyssen in 2010 and Romy took her down and submitted her with an armbar. Has she improved her ground game? All of Sheila's wins have come in the first round. She doesn't mess around. I would hope that Sara would want to take Sheila down as soon as possible. This will be Sheila's first fight in the US. It's a good signing because she is popular in Europe and the UFC wants to expand in Europe. And she is the first non-Strikeforce female fighter to sign with the UFC.
One would think that she would want to use her wrestling to control the match. But for some reason she got it into her head that she wanted to be a kickboxer and it almost cost her that fight. I see fighters do this all the time.
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