HONOLULU – [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] thinks cardio will play a big factor in her beating [autotag]DeAnna Bennett[/autotag] again.
Flyweight champion Carmouche (18-7 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) rematches Bennett (13-7-1 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) in Friday’s Bellator 294 main event at Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.
Carmouche submitted Bennett in the third round at Bellator 246 in September 2020. The fight was each of their promotional debuts. Since then, Bennett has won three straight, but Carmouche doesn’t expect anything different from her. She also sees the extra two championship rounds playing in her favor.
“I think her best representation of herself is when she faced me the first time,” Carmouche told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a pre-fight news conference Wednesday. “In that fight she wasn’t able to do what she needed to. I think she wants to come out stronger than she did and hope to pressure me, and keep the foot on the gas.
“I don’t think she has the gas tank for five rounds. So in her mind, if she can come out early, if she can come out fast, if she can come out strong, she can hopefully go for a finish. But I prepared for that, I prepared to go 10 rounds, you name it. So there’s not a circumstance I see where she’s able to have done enough growth in her previous fight to prepare for this one.”
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Bennett missed weight big in her first fight against Carmouche, coming in 5.7 pounds over the non-title flyweight limit of 126. For their second meeting, Bennett failed to make weight again, this time weighing 126.2 on her final attempt to make championship weight.
When asked to comment on Bennett’s strength, Carmouche said it’s hard to gauge.
“There was such a significant weight difference,” Carmouche said. “Our fight was getting pulled. I had to really lobby to keep the fight. The commission wanted to step in and pull it because she was so far off weight. So I can’t tell if the strength came from the significant weight difference or that’s how actually strong she is. I won’t know until Friday night.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 294.