Liz Carmouche’s Long, Winding Road to the Top

After serving in the United States Marine Corps earlier in life, reigning Bellator MMA women’s flyweight champion Liz Carmouche moved into mixed martial arts, which changed her life forever. Famously known for being one-half of the first-ever women’s Ultimate Fighting Championship title bout when she faced Ronda Rousey back in 2013, Carmouche now finds herself at the pinnacle of her career as she enters the 2024 Professional Fighters League playoffs.

Looking to add a second title to her resume, Carmouche is currently riding a nine-fight winning streak and credits her growth as a person and fighter to her time invested in MMA. Speaking to Sherdog.com ahead of her women’s flyweight semifinal opposite Taila Santos at PFL 7 this Friday in Nashville, Tennessee, Carmouche touched on her evolution and her appreciation for how the PFL is constructed.

Just two wins away from a PFL world title, Carmouche recognizes the surge she has had in the later stages of her career and said a lack of amateur experience forced her to grow up through her fighting career.

“Unfortunately for me, I didn’t really have an amateur career, so the mistakes that people make in recognizing those moments, to create those moments and opportunities, those are things and lessons you learn in your amateur career, and I didn’t have that,” she said. “Those are mistakes that I made in my professional career, and it cost me my record when it shouldn’t have.

“The mental headspace and the mental fortitude about being able to put aside any issue going on in your life, not letting it affect your fight, those are things you learn early on, and I didn’t,” Carmouche added. “I’d really like people to see how I’ve capitalized on the lessons from the early time in my career and utilized them to be the best fighter that I am now.”

Finding herself as a fighter allowed Liz Carmouche to find herself as an adult, as well.

“I got out of the Marine Corps, and there is so much of you going into the Marine Corps and you going into combat [that] it kind of stops your growth as a person,” she said. “My evolution and growth didn’t come until MMA when I had to start to have to really be an adult and experience hardship and losses. All of these different real-life things were happening in the civilian world, where I’m facing it firsthand, so not just my growth as an athlete but my growth as a person has been in MMA more than anything else in my life.”

Making the playoffs in her first year with the PFL season format, Carmouche reveled in how the promotion operates and how it rewards fighters based on what they have done most recently, rather than a popularity contest or politics being involved.

“Honestly, it’s been good,” she said. “It’s been cool to see the PFL be so supportive of trying to blow up the excitement of the fights and the careers of the fighters that they have. It’s not just about trying to promote one fight and one athlete; they’re trying to promote everybody, and that’s really cool to have that support and have people invest in you in that way.

“The production that they do is so cool,” Carmouche added. “Seeing things like ‘Oh, one of the fastest punches thrown is the one I took to the face,’ that’s awesome, just to see more science behind it. The way the PFL constructs their season with points … to me, the progression is fair. I don’t feel like I made it into the playoffs or someone else made it because ‘oh, they’re the pretty girl.’ No, she made it ’cause she has the most points, she earned her spot there. I love that, and that makes me want to invest in PFL, as well.”

Understanding the system in place, Carmouche will enter the PFL SmartCage against Santos giving respect to her opponent but acknowledging she has her sights set on achieving bigger goals than just one win in the playoffs. One of those goals involves becoming a two-promotion champion. If Carmouche were to become PFL and Bellator champion, she would like to have one of the super belts the company awarded to winners at the “PFL vs. Bellator Champs” event in February. She also wants to bring a women’s bantamweight division to the PFL.

“In my mind, do I just automatically get the belt, that super cool belt with the ring in it?” Carmouche asked. “My biggest push is to add the 135-pound division. The 135 division in the UFC isn’t as popular anymore—it’s kind of fallen off—and it’s not for lack of skill level. We have all this talent out there that are too small for 145 and too big for 125 that need to be showcased somewhere, and what better place than the PFL and with me leading the way towards another belt?”