Dave Doyle: Liz Carmouche vs. Mandy Bohm
There were plenty of interesting fights on Bellator’s May docket, but the one which intrigued me the most was [autotag]Liz Carmouche[/autotag]’s promotional debut in the main event of Bellator 243.
It might seem like a lifetime ago, but it was only four months ago that Carmouche (13-7 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) was notified by the UFC that she was released while she had traveled across the country to do PR work for them. Bellator wasted little time scooping her up, and for good reason: This is a fighter who still has something more to give.
Sure, Carmouche lost to Valentina Shevchenko last time out, but who hasn’t? The two-time UFC title challenger had won four of her previous five, with the only other loss a debatable split decision to Alexis Davis.
Bellator 243 was scheduled for Temecula, Calif., in the San Diego area, which is Carmouche’s home base. It’s the home base, too, for Bellator flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane. The duo share a gym and, unlike nearly everyone in that situation, they’re openly talking about wanting to meet each other in a friendly rivalry. That’s a new twist, and a win here would surely have facilitated such a fight.
But that brings us to the final piece of the puzzle. Bellator is notorious for bringing in fighters who are the equivalent of jobbers on 1980s pro wrestling TV shows on situations like these. A name fighter will go up against someone with a 2-3 pro record and then you’ll never hear from them when they lose.
[autotag]Mandy Bohm[/autotag] (6-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) doesn’t appear to fit that mold. I’m not going to pretend to have studied hours of tape on her, but she trains at SBG Ireland under John Kavanagh, so her lineage is legit, and she has finished four of her six career wins, including her last two. Whenever this fight gets rescheduled, if Carmouche is going to get to that Macfarlane fight, she’s going to have to earn it.
Next page: Farah Hannoun on a huge middleweight title fight