Former UFC title contender and Bellator MMA flyweight champ Liz Carmouche is back in the PFL tournament this year – a very different look, format wise, but a very familiar sight in terms of Carmouche’s involvement.
Carmouche (22-8) took part in the 2024 PFL season, going to the semifinals before losing to Taila Santos, a fellow former UFC title challenger. One big shock was Carmouche missing weight for the fight, something she touched ahead of her return at this week’s PFL 2.
“Definitely missing weight I think put me kind of in a mental place where I wasn’t able to go out there and pull the trigger the way I needed to, when at all times that was the most important part,” she told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview. “If you’re already down a point the last thing you want to do is not come out guns blazing. I know that all things considered, considering it was a difficult weight cut, missed weight, got my head about it, she still didn’t put me out. She didn’t finish me, had to go to decision. Which gives me more confidence going into the season.”
Carmouche fully expected to see Santos again this year, telling us that “I’m pretty sure she’s going to be the person I see in the finals,” and adding that “knowing that I’ve already experienced her hardest punch, her hardest shots, everything she has to offer, and none of it was able to stop me. So that means I can come out even stronger this time with more likelihood of having my hand raised.” That won’t be happening, however. Early this week, news broke that Santos was out of the tournament.
The biggest name on the women’s side of the PFL, outside of Cris Crybog, is Dakota Ditcheva, the 2024 PFL women’s flyweight champ. She will not be returning for the PFL World Tournament, which is now a single-elimination grand prix, as opposed to the season format of previous years.
Promotion officials previously told Cageside Press that Ditcheva would be part of the PFL’s Super-Fight series, rather than in the season. With Carmouche’s status as a Bellator champ, that actually feels like the biggest match-up left to make in the promotion’s women’s flyweight division. It’s a match-up Ditcheva herself has expressed interest in, but there’s been minimal talk on the promotion’s side about whether it could happen.
“Not at all, and it’s definitely something that I put out there as well,” Carmouche told us. “Everybody’s asked, what happened to the Bellator flyweight championship? Did you give it up? What’s going on? And my answer always is, I am just as much lost as you guys are.”
“Especially the PFL, I feel like more often than not I hear about updates in the news from media before I actually find out myself. So I haven’t heard anything, I put it out there in feelers in the hopes of having an opportunity, and I feel like the outcome of this tournament and the whole World League will ultimately decide who’s able to face Dakota.”
Asked whether there were any conversations behind the scenes on the subject, Carmouche replied saying “if there are conversations being had, I’m being left out of those conversations.”
In the meantime, Liz Carmouche faces Ilara Joanne, a fellow Bellator ex-pat introduced to the PFL when it acquired the rival promotion.
“I’m excited for that match-up. The benefit we have within PFL is we get to see the development that each fighter makes for every single fight. You’re backstage, you’re watching, sometimes you’re right next to them warming up and you get to see what the routine is, their jitters, everything like that,” noted Carmouche. Now, she gets to see things from the other side, but ultimately, she’s “confident with what I bring to the table, but excited also for what she has, because she’s still young, and she’s still evolving each fight.”
Watch our full interview with 2025 PFL 2’s Liz Carmouche above. The event takes place this Friday, April 11, 2025 in Orlando, Florida.
