From Friends To Foes For Title Fight

There are some fighters who are adamant fighting a friend and training partner inside the cage will absolutely never happen. To some — including Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president, Dana White — it’s a move that doesn’t make sense if reaching your championship destination is on the line.

To others, putting a friendship aside for one night isn’t all that much of a big deal. Granted, Liz Carmouche and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane haven’t trained together in at least two years, but they did strike up a friendship during the days as training partners where they helped one another sharpen skills to be successful.

And while they still remain friends, it won’t get in the way of them trying to get the victory this Saturday night (Oct. 7, 2023) at Bellator 300 for Carmouche’s Flyweight title in San Diego, Calif. Friend or foe, each fighters goes in with the mentality of trying to win without necessarily trying to harm the other purposely.

“Maybe I’m like a different kind of fighter, but I don’t go into my fights purposefully trying to hurt the other person,” Macfarlane said during the recent Bellator 300 pre-fight press (via MMA Junkie).

“So it’s really not a different mindset for me, the fact that I’m facing a friend and somebody I care about, because I don’t ever want to hurt, hurt somebody. This is our lives. These are our bodies and our health. It really doesn’t change the mindset for me.”

It’s a sentiment Carmouche shares wit the former 125-pound champion.

“It’s definitely a different element. We’re not looking to maim people, to take them out of their careers. That’s the last thing we want to do, and it’s nothing different here. The benefit we have is we know we’re gonna throw down, and it’s no malintent,” she added.

“There’s no cheating going on. I can rest assured there’s not some sneaky stuff where she’s fish-hooking me in the mouth and all these other things.”

Carmouche is undefeated inside the Bellator cage, winning her firs six fights with the promotion, which includes two consecutive title defenses. As for Macfarlane, she is currently riding a two-fight win streak and holds the record for most consecutive title defenses of the women’s 125-pound title with four.

Bellator 300 will be headlining by a Lightweight title fight as division king, Usman Nurmagomedov, will face off against Brent Primus in a Lightweight Grand Prix title fight. In the co-main event, Cris Cyborg defends her women’s Featherweight belt against Cat Zingano.

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