HONOLULU – The Bellator women’s flyweight title will be on the line Friday in Hawaii, but it only can affect the champion.
Champion Liz Carmouche (18-7 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) made weight for her scheduled Bellator 294 title defense against challenger DeAnna Bennett (13-7-1 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) on Thursday. She was the first fighter to the scale in the two-hour official window and was 125 pounds.
But a few minutes later, Bennett came in heavy at 127.4 pounds. She was given an additional hour after the close of the weigh-in window, which amounted to about an hour and 45 minutes. But at her final attempt on the scale, she was 126.2.
Carmouche was given the option to just fight Bennett without putting her title at risk – but said she only would fight if her belt was part of the equation. She agreed to a catchweight fight and will get 30 percent of Bennett’s purse. Bennett cannot win the title – but a loss for Carmouche would make the belt vacant.
But Carmouche said there really isn’t a risk at all for her – and said she predicted this would happen.
“Honestly, it was the title fight I was expecting,” Carmouche told MMA Junkie moments after she stepped off the scale from her ceremonial weigh-in faceoff with Bennett. “Leading up to this, I said just her previous (time) facing (me) she showed up weigh-in day 11 pounds over. Then, we were able to convince her and her fight team to continue cutting. She showed up and she was 5.5 pounds over and the commission tried to step in and cut the fight.
“Just like then, I said, ‘No, I want the fight – I came here to fight,’ just like I am now. I came here because I’m a champion. I came here because I wanted to fight, knowing full well this opponent has a far more consistent history of not making weight than making weight.”
Carmouche said her goal for the fight now will be to beat Bennett bad enough that it ends her time in Bellator – or even ends her career.
“This is going to make me want to be that much more violent and to shut her up and see if I can’t push for her to get cut from Bellator and not have to listen (to her), and anybody not have to put up with this anymore.
“That’s my goal on Friday night: To shut her up and end her career.”
Bellator 294 takes place Friday at Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu. It is the first of back-to-back Bellator shows at the venue. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 294.