Liz Carmouche – Page 6 – Syndication Server

Bellator 289 predictions: Are bantamweight grand prix and title fight upsets brewing?

Check out our staff members’ picks for Bellator 289, including Raufeon Stots vs. Danny Sabatello and Liz Carmouche vs. Juliana Velasquez.

	Stots vs. Sabatello	Carmouche vs. Velasquez	Magomedov vs. Mix	Adams vs. Rosta
MMA Junkie readers’ consensus picks 192-116	Stots (77%)	Velasquez (62%)	Magomedov (62%)	Rosta (89%)
Ken Hathaway @kenshathaway 204-109 2018 Champion	Stots	Carmouche	Mix	Rosta
Matthew Wells @MrMWells 195-118	Stots	Carmouche	Mix	Rosta
Abbey Subhan @kammakaze 193-120	Stots	Carmouche	Mix	Rosta
Farah Hannoun @Farah_Hannoun 191-122	Stots	Carmouche	Mix	Rosta
Mike Bohn @MikeBohn 191-122 2014 Champion	Stots	Carmouche	Mix	Rosta
Matt Erickson @MMAjunkieMatt 189-124	Stots	Carmouche	Mix	Rosta
Simon Samano @SJSamano 188-125	Stots	Carmouche	Mix	Rosta
Brian Garcia @thegoze 182-131 2017 Champion	Stots	Carmouche	Mix	Rosta
Nolan King @mma_kings 180-133	Stots	Carmouche	Mix	Rosta
George Garcia @MMAjunkieGeorge 172-141	Stots	Velasquez	Mix	Rosta
Danny Segura @dannyseguratv 154-159	Stots	Carmouche	Mix	Rosta

Bellator is back at its regular East Coast stomping ground with tournament semifinals and two title fights.

Bellator 289 takes place Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)

In the main event, interim bantamweight champion [autotag]Raufeon Stots[/autotag] (18-1 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) takes on heated rival [autotag]Danny Sabatello[/autotag] (13-1 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) in one of two grand prix semifinals. Stots is a slight -160 favorite at Tipico Sportsbook; the comeback on Sabatello is +125. But our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers are taking Stots as one of three unanimous picks on the main card.

In the co-feature, women’s flyweight [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] (17-7 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) puts her title on the line for the first time in a rematch with [autotag]Juliana Velasquez[/autotag] (12-1 MMA, 7-1 BMMA), whom she beat by TKO in April. Velasquez protested the stoppage to no avail, but now has a shot at redemption. Even though she’s a -180 favorite over the champ, it’s underdog Carmouche who has a whopping 10-1 lead from our staff pickers.

Also on the main card, [autotag]Patchy Mix[/autotag] (16-1 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) meets [autotag]Magomed Magomedov[/autotag] (19-2 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) in the second bantamweight tournament semifinal. The odds are the closest on the entire card with Magomedov just a -135 favorite. But our staff members have Mix in an 11-0 shutout.

And to open the main card, [autotag]Anthony Adams[/autotag] (9-2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) has a tough task at middleweight against the unbeaten 10-1 favorite [autotag]Dalton Rosta[/autotag] (7-0 MMA, 7-0 BMMA). Given the odds, it’s not surprising Rosta is our third unanimous pick in four fights.

In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Stots (77 percent), Velasquez (62 percent), Magomedov (62 percent) and Rosta (89 percent) are the choices.

Check out all the picks above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 289.

Champ Liz Carmouche, ex-champ Juliana Velasquez on weight for Bellator 289 rematch

Liz Carmouche’s first attempted title defense is official. Watch her and Juliana Velasquez at the Bellator 289 official weigh-ins.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag]’s first attempted title defense is official after the Bellator 289 weigh-ins.

Carmouche (17-7 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) made weight without issue for her Bellator 289 rematch with former champion [autotag]Juliana Velasquez[/autotag] (12-1 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) on Friday in Connecticut.

In the video above, check out the fierce rivals’ trips to the scale at the Bellator host hotel. Bellator 289 takes place Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 289.

Liz Carmouche: Juliana Velasquez rematch at Bellator 289 ‘doesn’t really make sense’

Liz Carmouche would rather be testing her skills against a new opponent, but will have to defeat Juliana Velasquez for a second time.

NORWICH, Conn. – [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] would rather be fighting a new opponent for her first Bellator title defense, but is ready to turn away Juliana Velasquez for the second time.

In the co-main event of Bellator 289, Carmouche (17-7 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) will put her flyweight title on the line for the first time against former champ Velasquez (12-1 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) in an immediate rematch. The event takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena, and airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

At Bellator 278, Carmouche locked Velasquez in a crucifix position and began raining down elbows. Immediately after referee Mike Beltran stopped the fight, Velasquez began protesting the stoppage, despite being unable to improve her position. For some, the result was controversial. Others, like Carmouche and her team, thought it was on to the next opponent for her first title defense.

“I’ve rewatched the tape, my coaches rewatched the tape, everybody went through everything and there was no doubts in any of our minds,” Carmouche told MMA Junkie and other reporters at media day Wednesday. “So I thought, alright cool, there’s not going to be a rematch. There’s women that are already scheduled, and in my mind, you have to come off a win to be able to fight to be able to be a contender for the belt.”

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With Velasquez seeking to overturn the result, the rumblings and rumors of a rematch continued to grow louder. Carmouche and her team began preparing for the inevitability of facing Velasquez again. Soon enough, the official news came, which did not sit well.

“Just with a different outcome, like if it would have been I eye gouged her and she was eligible for a rematch, yeah, that absolutely makes sense in my mind,” Carmouche said. “(If) I kicked her in the groin, it was a rematch – those are circumstances where I understand, like yeah, that warrants it. But not when you’re not moving on the ground and I’m elbowing you 12 unanswered elbows. Just doesn’t really make sense in my mind.

“So, I thought it was going to be a different woman, and in my mind, that’s a lot more exciting to me is a new opponent. Somebody that’s fresh, some things different, different style, so I can also grow more. When you’re fighting the same opponent, it’s not really a lot of growth. It’s kind of limited to what they do, what they don’t do. When it’s a different opponent and a different style, it just excites me more, because I get to show a different part of my game.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 289.

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UFC veterans in MMA, boxing and bareknuckle action Dec. 8-10

Check out which veterans of the UFC are in action this week.

This week, UFC 282 serves as the promotion’s final pay-per-view event of the year at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Elsewhere, many MMA, boxing and bareknuckle events are taking place that feature familiar names that have competed under the UFC banner.

These 13 veterans of the global MMA leader are competing in MMA, boxing and bareknuckle this week from Dec. 8-10.

Check out the names and details about their bouts below.

Upcoming event information from Tapology.

Bellator 289 pre-event facts: Will Liz Carmouche stay unbeaten in Bellator?

Check out the numbers behind Friday’s Bellator 289 event, which features a pair of championship fights.

The final Bellator event of the year takes place Friday with Bellator 289, which goes down at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., with a main card that airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

A championship doubleheader sits atop the card. In the main event, interim bantamweight champion [autotag]Raufeon Stots[/autotag]’ (18-1 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) and [autotag]Danny Sabatello[/autotag] (13-1 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) will meet in a title fight that also doubles as a semifinal matchup in the promotion’s 135-pound grand prix.

The co-headliner, meanwhile, will see [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] (17-7 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) attempt to make her first women’s flyweight title defense when she runs it back with [autotag]Juliana Velasquez[/autotag] (12-1 MMA, 7-1 BMMA), whom she beat for the title in controversial fashion earlier this year.

For more on the numbers, check below for MMA Junkie’s pre-event facts about Bellator 289.

Liz Carmouche plans to leave no doubt in Bellator 289 rematch vs. Juliana Velasquez: ‘It’s personal’

Liz Carmouche says Juliana Velasquez acted poor after their first fight and will ensure there’s “not a doubt” in the Bellator 289 rematch.

[autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] is still bothered by the way her first fight with [autotag]Juliana Velasquez[/autotag] unfolded and plans to disqualify any controversy from the narrative at Bellator 289.

Carmouche (17-7 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) will put her Bellator women’s flyweight title on the in the co-headliner of the event, when she rematches Velasquez (12-1 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) for the title at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

The title changed hands in April, when Carmouche managed to put Velasquez on the ground in the second round and advance into a dominant position where she rattled off a series of strikes that stunned her opponent. Referee Mike Beltran stepped in to wave it off, and immediately Velasquez protested the stoppage that ended her title reign.

In the aftermath of the event, Velasquez lobbied to have the fight overturned, but the commission denied her appeal. A rematch was then set, and Carmouche enters convinced that she already has one clear-cut win over the Brazilian in her pocket.

“I still stand by that I feel the right call was made,” Carmouche told MMA Junkie. “I’ve now seen different angles of the fight where I elbow her in the face. She doesn’t bridge, she doesn’t move her arms. She stares up at the sky and zones out. That, to me, is a fighter that’s no longer in her body. You can be what’s called flash knocked out. You can still have your eyes open and be concussed and have no recollection of the fight, have brain damage.”

Although Carmouche initially said she wasn’t keen on running it back, she’s become warm to the idea over time. She thinks that Velasquez’s reaction to the defeat and complaint over the finish took something away from what should’ve been a special moment in her career, and that has rubbed Carmouche the wrong way.

“It’s personal,” Carmouche said. “What should’ve been this wonderful moment that I was working toward for so many years, it kind of lost some of its luster because of the claims and because of her demeanor, behavior and how she carried herself after the fight.”

The opportunity for a rematch has upside for Carmouche, too in that she can put arguably her toughest matchup in the 125-pound division behind her on the back burner for the foreseeable future with another win over Velsquez.

That’s the mentality Carmouche enters Bellator 289 with, she said, and her goal is to put an exclamation point on Velasquez this time around.

“It’s definitely a lot more motivation,” Carmouche said. “Make sure that there’s not a doubt in her mind or anyone else’s that I put her away in such a fashion that she doesn’t need to open her mouth again.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 289.

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Liz Carmouche vs. Juliana Velasquez title rematch set for Bellator 289

Juliana Velasquez may not have gotten exactly what she was looking for after she lost her Bellator title, but she got the next best thing.

[autotag]Juliana Velasquez[/autotag] may not have gotten exactly what she was looking for after she lost her Bellator title, but she got the next best thing.

Velasquez (12-1 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) lost the women’s flyweight title to [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] (16-7 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) at Bellator 278 in April in Honolulu. Carmouche rallied to finish Velasquez with a fourth-round TKO.

Velasquez protested the stoppage and even went so far as to press the result to be overturned. That didn’t happen, but at least she’ll get a chance to win the belt back in a rematch.

Carmouche will defend the title against Velasquez at Bellator 289, which is set for Dec. 9 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. A person with knowledge of the booking confirmed the matchup to MMA Junkie on Wednesday following an initial report from MMAFighting.com. The main card will air on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

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The 38-year-old Carmouche came to Bellator in 2020 after a lengthy run in the UFC, where she fought for the inaugural women’s bantamweight title against Ronda Rousey in 2013. She won her first three Bellator bouts to get a shot at Velasquez, then took her out with her third finish in four fights for the promotion.

Velasquez upset Ilima-Lei Macfarlane in December 2020 to win the title in Uncasville. She defended it with a split call against Denise Kielholtz in July 2021, but lost it to Carmouche in what was the first setback of her career. Coincidentally, she’ll have a chance to win the title back in the same venue in which she won it the first time – almost exactly two years to the day later.

Bellator 289 also includes the bantamweight grand prix semifinal bouts between interim champion Raufeon Stots and Danny Sabatello, as well as Magomed Magomedov vs. Patchy Mix.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 289.

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USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, April 26: New champ Liz Carmouche climbs

Check out the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings following Bellator 278, 279 and UFC Fight Night 205.

A number of divisional rankings were shaken up following UFC Fight Night 205 and dual events in Honolulu with Bellator 278 and Bellator 279.

In the first of back-to-back events for the promotion, a new women’s flyweight champ was crowned as [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] defeated Juliana Velasquez at Bellator 278. Although the fourth-round TKO stoppage was considered early by some, including Velasquez, Carmouche walked out of Neil S. Blaisdell Center with some new hardware and a new spot in this week’s rankings, climbing from No. 4 to No. 2. Not only does the new champ take Velasquez’s title, she takes her previous slot in the rankings.

At UFC Fight Night 205, former strawweight champion [autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag] returned to the division she once ruled to take on Amanda Lemos in the main event. Not only did Andrade record a win, but she also did so in historic fashion, by recording the first standing arm triangle submission in UFC history. The former champ has seen success throughout her career at bantamweight, flyweight, and strawweight. Now that she has returned to 115 pounds, she also re-enters the rankings in the division, claiming the No. 7 spot.

Take a look at the full rankings below ahead of UFC on ESPN 35.

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Liz Carmouche sides with Mike Beltran on Bellator 278 stoppage, not interested in immediate rematch

The Bellator 278 main event stoppage was controversial to some, but Liz Carmouche didn’t have a problem with it.

HONOLULU – Though she benefited from the ultimate outcome, new Bellator women’s flyweight champion [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag] agrees with Mike Beltran’s stoppage that earned her a title.

Carmouche (17-7 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) won via TKO in the fourth round of a Bellator 278 title challenge vs. [autotag]Juliana Velasquez[/autotag], a decision her opposition did not agree with. Immediately after the stoppage, Velasquez (12-0 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) and her coaches voiced their displeasure to referee Mike Beltran.

The stoppage received criticism beyond the cage, too, as many viewers called it early. For Carmouche, one of the three people involved in the sequence, she hypothesized Velasquez wouldn’t have been able to get out regardless.

“I think he stepped in at the right time,” Carmouche told MMA Junkie at a post-fight news conference. “I think if he let it continue, it could’ve been a broken orbital. It could’ve been her going unconscious. I think when he stepped in, it was the right thing to do to protect the fighter. She wasn’t doing anything to correctly advance her position safely and she wasn’t doing anything to defend it. So if she just kept taking it, ending a fight that way, I’d much rather see a fighter step up and us shake hands rather than have her go to the hospital and not remember what happened. So I think he did the right thing.”

Will a rematch be next? Maybe. Bellator president Scott Coker has yet to issue his thoughts on the Bellator 278 headliner, something reporters will likely get after Bellator 279 tomorrow. Carmouche, however, hopes for a new challenge next.

“I hope not,” Carmouche said. “I get kind of bored with rematches. I like to see something different and kind of change it up. I love an opportunity to let someone else in the division work their way up and see what else I can show off in the cage.”

Liz Carmouche (@iamgirlrilla) is the new Bellator women's flyweight champion! The crowd loved it, but former champion Juliana Velasquez took issue.#Bellator278 | More: https://t.co/kzE1mFPg8C pic.twitter.com/za64dnjXtM

— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) April 23, 2022

The victory, controversial or not, is Carmouche’s first major promotional title win. She tried once in Strikeforce, and twice in the UFC, but to no avail. Ultimately, she will go down in the record books as a champion, something she said was meant to be in Bellator.

“I feel like all those opportunities were just lessons. They were mistakes and things I had to take away from it so I’d be prepared for today in Bellator, not any of the other organizations.”

The event was solely attended by military members, veterans, and first responders. A former marine, Carmouche won gold in front of her peers – something that holds more weight than anything else.

“That means more to me, honestly,” Carmouche said. “It could be a group of 10 people. It could be people from a squadron. When it’s military, when it’s first responders, the sacrifices they make in their lives for the sake of other people, it’s unselfish. It’s always putting aside their free time, their lives to give to other people. That means more to me than doing it in front of a large crowd that paid for it. It’s being able to give back and give a free show for them to enjoy something like this.”

Bellator 278 took place Friday at Neal S. Blaisdell Center as the first of two events in a two-night doubleheader.

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