Tag: Liz Carmouche

UFC veterans in MMA action Oct. 4-7

Check out which veterans of the UFC are competing in combat sports across the globe this weekend.

This week, the UFC returns to action with UFC Fight Night 229 in Las Vegas.

Last week, the promotion took a week off after 17 consecutive weekends with a fight card. At the UFC Apex, lightweights [autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag] and [autotag]Bobby Green[/autotag] will collide in the main event.

Elsewhere, many other combat sports events are taking place that feature a number of familiar names that have competed under the UFC banner.

Check out which veterans of the global MMA leader are competing in MMA Oct. 4-7.

Check out the names and details about their bouts below.

Upcoming event information from Tapology.

Bellator 300 pre-event facts: Strong stats behind title-fight triple header

Check out all the facts and figures about Bellator 300, which takes place Saturday and features three championship bouts.

Perhaps the final monumental event in Bellator history takes place Saturday with Bellator 300, which goes down at Pechanga Arena in San Diego with a main card that airs on Showtime following prelims streamed on MMA Junkie.

Three championship fights will top the bill, with the lightweight, women’s featherweight and women’s flyweight belts all on the line in what the promotion is dubbing as a “triple main event.”

For more on the numbers behind each bout, as well as other notable bouts on the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts about Bellator 300.

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Liz Carmouche assures friendship with Ilima-Lei Macfarlane won’t get in way of Bellator 300 title fight

“We’ve always said we’d put it on the line harder against each other than any other opponent,” Liz Carmouche said of Ilima-Lei Macfarlane.

What might be awkward or a deal breaker to many is no problem for Bellator women’s flyweight champion [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag].

This Saturday, Carmouche defends her title against former teammate and good friend Ilima-Lei Macfarlane on the main card of Bellator 300, which takes place at Pechanga Arena in San Diego. Many friendships have gotten in the way of championship fights in MMA, and understandably so, but not in this case.

Carmouche (19-7 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) is not only on good terms with Macfarlane (13-2 MMA, 12-2 BMMA), but the two have actually kept in contact as they get ready to fight each other.

” As far as the friendship, we’re still friends,” Carmouche told MMA Junkie Radio. “In her last fight camp, she needed a vehicle, so I let her borrow my truck. I was out of town for the weekend, and she got hay from my wife, so we’re still friends, and we’re sharing food videos with each other. The friendship is still there. That hasn’t waned for any reason and has no reflection on the fight.

“As far as training together, no, we haven’t been training together for a few years, but we were an integral part of our fight camps for a lot of years.”

Carmouche doesn’t wish ill on Macfarlane – far from it. However, not only is she confident that their friendship won’t get in the way of their flyweight title fight and that their relationship also won’t be affected, but she actually believes the two will fight harder than when they’ve fought non-friends or even rivals.

“Now facing her, the last thing you want to do is to go in there and hurt your friend,” Carmouche said. “I certainly don’t want to hurt her, but we both got the goals we have in mind, and I can’t put aside my success and my family to be able to place her needs and success ahead.

“So while it is awkward, we’ve competed side by side in so many opportunities, and we’ve had opportunities to face each other, and it just didn’t work out. We’ve always said we’d put it on the line harder against each other than any other opponent because, at the end of the day, we know we can hug each other, and it’s genuine hugs and just grateful for the experience to share it together.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 300.

Video: Which champions retain (if any) at Bellator 300?

The tricentennial Bellator event takes place Saturday at Pechanga Arena in San Diego and features three title fights.

Bellator 300 is just days away – a milestone event for the promotion that will transpire in its most uncertain of times.

While it’s unclear how long Bellator will be around for, it’s tricentennial event features three title fights after a fourth, Ryan Bader vs. Linton Vassell was canceled Tuesday. The remaining title fights include [autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Brent Primus[/autotag], [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Linton Vassell[/autotag], and [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ilima-Lei Macfarlane[/autotag].

The event takes place Saturday at Pechanga Arena in San Diego with a main card on Showtime after prelims on MMA Junkie.

Which champions will retain (if any)? Which will lose (if any)?

MMA Junkie’s “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Dan Tom, and Danny Segura joined host George Garcia to break it all down.

Watch their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s full “Spinning Back Clique” episode below on YouTube or in podcast form.

Matchup Roundup: New UFC and Bellator fights announced in the past week (Aug. 7-13)

All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were first reported or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.

MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.

But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.

Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.

Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie or officially announced by a promotion from Aug. 7-13.

Bellator 300: Historic event set for Oct. 7 in San Diego with 4 title fights

Bellator 300 finally has a date and location, as well as a historic main card with four title fights.

Bellator 300 finally has a date and location, as well as a historic main card.

The event is set for Oct. 7 at Pechanga Arena in San Diego and will feature four title fights. The promotion is saying Bellator 300 will have four main events, but atop the card will be heavyweight champion [autotag]Ryan Bader[/autotag] against challenger [autotag]Linton Vassell[/autotag].

In addition, women’s featherweight champ [autotag]Cris Cyborg[/autotag] takes on challenger [autotag]Cat Zingano[/autotag], lightweight titleholder [autotag]Usman Nurmagomedov[/autotag] meets former champ [autotag]Brent Primus[/autotag], and in a long-discussed matchup, women’s flyweight champ [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] will put her title on the line against her good friend, training partner and former champ, [autotag]Ilima-Lei Macfarlane[/autotag].

Bellator officials announced the card Wednesday. The event date, location and lightweight title fight first were reported by BJPenn.com. The additional three title fights were announced on “The MMA Hour” ahead of a Bellator news release. The main card will air on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

“When I first joined Bellator, we set out to sign and develop the best available talent in the world and produce events for massive audiences,” Bellator president Scott Coker said in a press release. “Our first tentpole event was Bellator 131 in San Diego, and we couldn’t be more excited to return to that very same arena for this monumental Bellator 300 event.

“We wanted to give the fans and supporters an epic night of fights and there is no better way to do that than showcasing these four incredible champions all putting their belts on the line. I’m proud of the all the work we have done to grow this brand and its athletes since I came on board. I can’t wait for Bellator 300, which is going to be the biggest event in the history of Bellator MMA.”

Former two-division champ Bader (31-7 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) lost the light heavyweight title in 2020, but has held onto the heavyweight belt. After he was knocked out by Corey Anderson in the 205-pound tournament in 2021, he has three straight heavyweight title wins over Valentin Moldavsky, Cheick Kongo and Fedor Emelianenko.

The fight against Vassell will be a rematch of a Bader win at Bellator 186 in November 2017, which Bader won with a second-round TKO to defend his light heavyweight title. Now Vassell will try again, but a weight class up.

Vassell, who is all of four days older than Bader, lost his first fight at heavyweight in 2019, but has been on a tear since then with five straight wins and four stoppages in the division. In March, he knocked out Moldavsky in the first round.

Cyborg (26-2 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) re-signed with Bellator earlier this year after she tested the free agency market. Ultimately, she decided to stay put, but stayed at least a busy boxing. But now she’ll have a grudge match with Zingano. Cyborg is considered one of the best women’s fighters in history and has held titles for Bellator, the UFC, Strikeforce and Invicta.

Zingano (14-4 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) has been waiting for a shot at Cyborg since she signed with Bellator after a lengthy run in the UFC. She’s been perfect out of the gate and now will get her first shot at a title since she challenged Ronda Rousey at UFC 184 in 2015. Her resume already includes wins over Amanda Nunes and Miesha Tate, and a win over Cyborg would be a legacy-defining moment.

Nurmagomedov, a cousin over former UFC lightweight champion Khabib, won the title in November 2022 against then-champ Patricky Freire. In March, he submitted former UFC and WEC champ Benson Henderson for his first successful title defense in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Primus (12-3 MMA, 10-3 BMMA) was on the outside looking in when the tournament started, but stepped in as a late replacement alternate. Then he silenced the crowd in Paris with a unanimous decision over local French fan favorite Mansour Barnaoui at Bellator 296. He beat Michael Chandler for the title in 2017, and an upset of Nurmagomedov would give him the belt back and put him in a $1 million title defense in the final.

And finally, Carmouche (19-7 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) and Macfarlane (13-2 MMA, 12-2 BMMA) get their dream matchup. Macfarlane has said she wants to win back the flyweight belt she used to hold, then retire. To do it, it’ll have to come against her good friend and longtime training partner.

Carmouche defended the title against DeAnna Bennett in the Bellator 294 main event in April in Honolulu. The next night, Macfarlane took a split decision from Kana Watanabe in front of her home fans to set up the fight between the two. Carmouche has been unstoppable since she signed with Bellator. Macfarlane has bounced back from the first two losses of her career with wins over Bruna Ellen and Watanabe.

There have been reports that Bellator may be on the cusp of being acquired from Paramount, and the strongest rumored bidder has been the PFL. Further speculation has been that Bellator 300 could be the promotion’s final event before a merger.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 300.

MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month for April: Liz Carmouche saves title reign

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submission from April 2023.

With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best submissions from April 2023: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Submission of the Month award for April.

At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting for your choice.

Nominees

5 biggest takeaways from busy UFC, Bellator and boxing weekend: Would Sergei Pavlovich beat Jon Jones?

Recap the most notable storylines to come out of a busy combat weekend that included UFC, two Bellator cards and a major boxing event.

What mattered most from a stacked weekend of combat sports that included Bellator 294 and Bellator 295 in Hawaii, UFC Fight Night 222 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas a big-time boxing match in “Sin City”? Here are a few post-fight musings …

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Scott Coker eyes Liz Carmouche vs. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane title fight for late 2023: ‘We have to do that fight’

Bellator president Scott Coker says Liz Carmouche vs. Ilima-Lei Macfarlane is next.

HONOLULU – We’re just hours away from [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag]’s latest title defense, and it looks like there’s already another one on the horizon.

Bellator president [autotag]Scott Coker[/autotag] says former champion [autotag]Ilima-Lei Macfarlane[/autotag] is next in line following the pair of events this weekend in Hawaii; Bellator 294 on Friday and Bellator 295 on Saturday.

Carmouche (19-7 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) successfully defended her women’s flyweight belt against DeAnna Bennett, submitting her with an arm triangle in the fourth round of their Bellator 294 main event. In the co-main event of Bellator 295, Macfarlane (13-2 MMA, 12-2 BMMA) edged Japan’s Kana Watanabe in a split decision.

Coker says the next step is a championship bout between the two teammates.

“The first step for her is to fight Liz Carmouche,” Coker told MMA Junkie and other reporters at the Bellator 295 post-fight news conference. “That’s the top priority. By winning this fight against Watanabe, who’s extremely competitive and skilled, a lot of folks thought it could go either way. It was a tight fight, but given the decision, it puts her on the sights of Liz, and we have to do that fight.

“Do we do it here? I don’t know because the Blaisdell is being closed for remodeling. We’ll talk to Stan Sheriff (Center) and see what’s available, but that fight we can put anywhere. That’s a bigtime fight and those two girls have had great runs in their Mixed Martial Arts career, and we would love to promote that fight at the end of the year.”

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Macfarlane, a Hawaii native, is always looking to fight on her home island, if possible. But due to the circumstances relating to the availability of the arena, that may not be in the cards. Coker believes that shouldn’t be an issue and the two parties will work things out.

“We’re a fight company that needs to continue to put fights, so if we can’t get into Stan Sheriff, and we can’t come here, what are you going to do? Wait another two years while it remodels?,” Coker said. “It’s something that we’ll have dialogue. We have a good relationship with these athletes, and we’ll have a conversation and do our best to accommodate her.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 295.

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Liz Carmouche dug deep to finish ‘cheater’ DeAnna Bennett in effort to ‘get her out of this sport’

Typically respectful toward her opponents, Liz Carmouche was absolutely fed up with Bellator 294 opponent DeAnna Bennett.

HONOLULU – [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] touched gloves with [autotag]DeAnna Bennett[/autotag] moments prior to their Bellator 294 bout Friday, but she did so with a bad taste in her mouth.

“Once the bell rings, I’m not going to play the game of touching gloves and letting you get a crazy swing,” Carmouche told MMA Junkie at a post-fight news conference at Neal S. Blaisdell Center. “With someone I don’t trust for being a cheater, I’m not going to trust she’s (not) going to take advantage of that moment either.”

Those who have followed Carmouche (19-7 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) during the span of her lengthy career know she very seldom, if ever, is anything short of respectful toward her opponents. But when Bennett (13-8-1 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) missed weight for the second time in as many head-to-head matchups vs. Carmouche, it struck a nerve.

“If you have the energy to put on a face, if you have the energy to joke around and make light of the fact that you’re not making weight, you have the energy to stay in that sauna, work out, and make the weight,” Carmouche said. “So she was fine. It’s just her claim to fame in this sport is missing weight, not making weight. That shouldn’t be it. You’re a professional MMA fighter. You think you deserve to be the champion by missing weight? That’s your whole career? You don’t deserve to have the belt. Now, if she put on that performance having made weight? I would be saying something different. I’d give her props for what she did. But the reality is that she cheated yet again by missing weight, like I said she would before this fight.”

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Carmouche finished Bennett by submission, as was the outcome in their September 2020 meeting, too. This time, it was by fourth-round arm-triangle choke. According to the judges’ scorecards, Carmouche was down 30-27 on all judges’ scorecards through three rounds. Carmouche dug deep for the finish, motivated not only by Bennett’s success in the fight but the failures before it.

“If I outweigh somebody and I didn’t have to cut the weight, I would do pretty well on top, too,” Carmouche said. “So no, that wasn’t what I was banking on. I wasn’t banking on having to carry, into the fourth and fifth round of a championship fight. I wouldn’t to finish her off and make a huge statement and shut her up and get her out of this sport, so she can take her crude remarks and her lack of professionalism somewhere else.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 294.