HONOLULU – [autotag]DeAnna Bennett[/autotag] isn’t surprised the stars aligned for a rematch with [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag].
Carmouche (18-7 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) defends her title against Bennett (13-7-1 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) in Friday’s Bellator 294 headliner at Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.
In what was each of their Bellator debuts, Carmouche submitted Bennett in September 2020. Carmouche later captured the Bellator flyweight title against Juliana Velasquez, and Bennett hasn’t lost since which set her up for the rematch – this time, with much larger stakes.
“You have to take each fight independently,” Bennett told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a pre-fight news conference Wednesday. “It’s been a couple years. I’m a different fighter. She’s a different fighter. I’m at a completely different camp now in Philly with Marquez MMA and joining teams for that. But you have to go back and look at the first fight and see what you did right, what she did right, what I did wrong.
“… I knew I would see her again. I knew she would be champion, so I felt like it would be for the title. So I hoped that when I brought myself back up to the spot where I could be in title contention, I hoped she’d still have the title at that point. I knew she was already going to be the champion because she’s such a great fighter. My hopes paid off because she’s still the champion and our rematch is for the title. I’m so incredibly excited for this. I can’t stop smiling just because the opportunity is finally here. I’m just happy.”
[lawrence-related id=2635562,2635501]
According to BetMGM, Bennett is a sizable +360 underdog against Carmouche, who is the -500 favorite. But “The Ultimate Fighter 26” alum is paying no mind to the odds.
“Who was it, Rodney Dangerfield? ‘I don’t get no respect,'” Bennett said. “I’m not even fazed by it. I don’t expect anyone to know who I am. My manager and everybody are like, ‘You need to do more self-promotion’… and of course I want to do that, but my focus has been training, My focus has been fighting and proving myself in the cage.”
Bennett continued, “I know what I did in that fight, and I proved a little bit to myself. People take it at face value because if they didn’t see the fight, then they just see the result of it, it’s a loss on my record. Cool. And if they want to think that and if they want the betting records to be that, cool. I’ll make some people some money when they bet on me.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 294.
[lawrence-related id=2634147,2635279,551999]