Liz Carmouche lost her first shot at a major MMA championship all the way back in March 2011. Other championship opportunities resulted in losses in February 2013 and August 2019 before Carmouche finally captured gold in April 2022, beating Juliana Velasquez for the Bellator flyweight championship. On Friday night, Carmouche steps into the cage to make her second defense of her title in the main event of Bellator 294.
A familiar foe will be standing across the cage from Carmouche in the form of DeAnna Bennett. The two women clashed at Bellator 246 in September 2020, a fight that marked the promotional debut for both fighters. While Bennett had some brief moments of success, Carmouche largely controlled the fight before sinking in a rear-naked choke in the third round.
Bennett has won three fights since that defeat, though admittedly not against a murderer’s row of opponents. She has twice defeated Justine Kish and also picked up a win over Alejandra Lara. Kish and Lara are a combined 5-12 since 2017. Wins are wins, however, and Bennett had managed to secure a major opportunity before derailing her chance to become world champion by failing to make weight.
Bennett badly missed weight for her first fight with…
