With first title defense handled, Liz Carmouche pushes Bellator for 135 division and shot at two belts

UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Liz Carmouche has a vision for her future, and it includes a second Bellator title.

Carmouche (18-7 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) on Friday submitted Juliana Velasquez (12-2 MMA, 7-2 BMMA) in a rematch to defend the women’s flyweight title in the Bellator 289 co-main event at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

Carmouche finished Velasquez with a fourth-round TKO to win the title in Honolulu in April, but Velasquez lobbied to get the result overturned and said it was a bad stoppage. The result stayed on the books, but Velasquez got a rematch – only to have Carmouche leave no doubt the second time around.

“In all honesty, one of the things I’ve been really working is a crucifix from every single position,” Carmouche told MMA Junkie after the fight. “So I was really trying to bait her to get back into a crucifix, just anywhere, so I could say, ‘Not only am I going to finish you in the exact same position, but I’m going to do it more dominant and a lot more dangerous.”

Carmouche fought Ronda Rousey at bantamweight in the first women’s fight in UFC history. But Bellator doesn’t have a 135-pound weight class, and Carmouche has been at 125 since she changed promotions.

With her first title defense in the books, Carmouche thinks it’s time Bellator gave women’s bantamweight a shot, and she’d gladly move up to go after a belt there.

Moreover, she thinks she should fight one of her longtime teammates and regular training partners for an inaugural Bellator women’s 135-pound belt: former flyweight champ Ilima-Lei Macfarlane.

“Ilima-Lei Macfarlane and I have been training partners for years,” Carmouche said. “We have a lot of respect and we’re really great friends. She wants to retire, and she wants a fight against me to be her retirement. After her not making weight (at flyweight) her last time – and who wants to cut all the way down all the time? – it would make sense to me.

“I want to be Bellator’s 135 champion and I want to hold a belt in two divisions. And I can’t think of anybody better to do that with than Ilima – her retirement fight and my opening to a new division in Bellator. So I want to fight her in Hawaii for her retirement …”

Carmouche said her hope for a women’s bantamweight division largely is wishful thinking, but Bellator president Scott Coker said it may be a move the promotion is willing to make soon.

“It’s mostly wishful thinking, but if there’s one thing I’ve been doing since I’ve been in Bellator, it’s trying to put things into fruition and putting out there what I want,” Carmouche said. “… I think that Bellator is going to listen, and hopefully they’ll meet me with this and we’ll make a 135 division.”

Check out Carmouche’s full post-fight interview in the video above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 289.