At 38-years-old, Liz Carmouche is finally a world champion, but it wasn’t without controversy.
Carmouche earned a shot at the Strikeforce belt in 2011, and two shots at the UFC title in 2013 and in 2019. Unfortunately, she dropped those bouts to talented champions from various eras in Marloes Coenen, Ronda Rousey and Valentina Shevchenko. Friday night was her fourth attempt at taking home a major MMA title, and “Girl-Rilla” succeeded.
She improved to 4-0 in Bellator, defeating Juliana Velasquez and taking her flyweight title in the process with a fourth round TKO. Although no fault of her own, the title win was mired in a bit of controversy.