Liz Carmouche (Credit: PFL)
Liz Carmouche aiming to add PFL title and continue change for women’s MMA to cement her legacy
Since being released from the UFC in 2019, Liz Carmouche has enjoyed nothing but success and seen her career come full circle. Immediately after signing with Bellator MMA, Carmouche would go on a run to the women’s flyweight title, which she would then go on to defend three times before joining the PFL for the 2024 season. A long-time veteran of the sport and pioneer for women’s MMA, Carmouche is scheduled to face Kana Watanbe in the second round of the PFL women’s flyweight tournament on June 13, at Mohegan Sun Arena.
In a conversation with MyMMANews, Carmouche discussed what adding a PFL title to her resume would mean to her legacy, what more changes she wants to bring to women’s MMA, and no plans for retirement any time soon.
When she claimed Bellator MMA gold, Carmouche said everything came full circle in her career, but it wasn’t all just for herself, it was a statement for the next generation of fighters who she hopes to inspire.
“It means so much, because I’m big on telling the up-and-coming fighters on our team and training partners, that this is the thing that they want [a title] that commitment is going to require sacrifice. I go away for my fight camps, I don’t get to see my son or my wife for two to three months at a time, I’ve missed weddings, funerals, you name it. Whether it’s celebrations or the crying pain of loss, I’ve experienced it all and sacrificed to make sure I was there chasing after this belt.
For me, the achievement of the belt wasn’t just everything I did in the cage, but it was the sacrifices that all my family and friends who helped, all my training partners, and coaches to get there. That belt represented not just my hard work but everybody else’s hard work that helped me get there. That was the biggest thing, to be able to take that back and show everybody what they achieved by helping me get there.”
Never doing it for just herself, Carmouche doesn’t just have her eyes set on claiming another title, but she wants her legacy to be one that helped continue to build the sport for women.
In her second fight of the 2024 PFL Season, Carmouche will face Kana Watanbe on Thursday, June 13 from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Coming into the second round, she currently sits in fourth place in the regular season standings with three points. Jena Bishop, Taila Santos, and Dakota Ditcheva all come into the second round having a tiebreaker with six points each.
Watch the video above for the full interview with Liz Carmouche including what a PFL world title would mean to her, what she still wants to accomplish in the sport, and more.
