Out fighter Liz Carmouche wins PFL tournament by TKO with her son cheering her on

Women’s MMA pioneer Liz Carmouche donned her rainbow mouthpiece once again Friday night and added to her trophy case with her biggest win since joining the Professional Fighters League last year.

Carmouche stopped Jena Bishop via TKO in the third round to win the PFL World Women’s Flyweight tournament in the co-main event of Friday’s “PFL 9” event in Charlotte, N.C. After fending off a triangle choke attempt from Bishop in the second round, Carmouche dropped Bishop midway through the third with a left hand to the jaw. She followed up with a series of hammerfists on the ground before the referee stopped the fight.

Carmouche opened up about her team’s strategy of combating Bishop’s ability on the ground with a high volume of strikes following the fight.

“As usual, I didn’t quite stick to the game plan,” Carmouche said. “Had I stuck to the game plan, that would have opened up more in like the first or second round which is collecting that volume because when I was landing I was landing clean, so I just needed to stick with it more.”

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Carmouche’s win was even sweeter because it came in front of her son. “It means the world that he got to be here for it, that I got to go out there and put on the performance that I wanted to, get that win and bring this belt home,” she said.

The win served as a bit of vengeance for Carmouche after falling in the semifinals of last year’s PFL Women’s Flyweight tournament to Talia Santos in her only loss since leaving the UFC in 2019. “Girl-rilla” racked up a 7-0 record in Bellator during that timespan, winning the Bellator Women’s Flyweight championship in 2022 and holding it until the promotion was purchased by the PFL in Dec. 2023.

It also further cements her place as a pivotal figure in the history of women’s MMA. Carmouche became the first woman to ever enter the UFC octagon in 2013, battled Ronda Rousey in the promotion’s first women’s fight and participated in the first all-LBGTQ fight in UFC history later that year against former UFC Strawweight champion Jessica Andrade.

UFC commentator Joe Rogan offered congratulations to Carmouche during the “UFC 319” prelims broadcast Saturday, shouting out her win during Andrade’s decision loss to Loopy Godinez.

With her new title belt draped over her shoulder, Carmouche expressed her desire to see the PFL add a women’s bantamweight division and called her shot for a fight with the undefeated winner of last year’s PFL Women’s Flyweight tournament and the 2023 PFL Europe Women’s Flyweight tournament Dakota Ditcheva.

“I think, when Dakota’s healthy, I would love a chance to be able to fight Dakota,” Carmouche said. 

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