No stranger to the spotlight,
Liz
Carmouche gets at least one more shot at glory.
Carmouche—who has already fought for titles in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship and
Strikeforce—will
challenge the unbeaten
Bellator
MMA women’s flyweight champion
Juliana
Velasquez in the
Bellator 278 headliner on Friday at the Neil S. Blaisdell
Center in Honolulu. The Team Hurricane Awesome product enters the
cage on the strength of a three-fight winning streak. Carmouche
last appeared at Bellator 261, where she needed just 35 seconds to
strike down
Kana
Watanabe with punches on June 25. Velasquez, meanwhile, brings
a perfect 12-0 record into the match. The
Team Nogueira export last fought on July 16, when she retained
her 125-pound title with a split decision over
Denise
Kielholtz in the Bellator 262 main event.
As Carmouche and Velasquez make final preparations for their
five-round showdown, a look at some of the numbers that have
accompanied them to this point:
35: Years of age for Velasquez, who was born in Rio de Janeiro on
Oct. 19, 1986.
4: Velasquez wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for
33% of her career total (12). Her list of Bellator victims:
Kristina
Williams and
Rebecca
Ruth. Velasquez holds one other win by submission—she
dispatched
Na Liang with
a second-round armbar at Bellator 189 in 2017—and seven more by
decision.
498: Days spent by Velasquez as Bellator women’s flyweight
champion. She captured the title with a unanimous decision over
Ilima-Lei
Macfarlane at Bellator 254 on Dec. 10, 2020 and successfully
defended it in the aforementioned encounter with Kielholtz.
33: Professional rounds completed by Velasquez. She has gone the
distance on seven different occasions and carries a 7-0 record in
those bouts.
2: Countries in which Velasquez has plied her mixed martial arts
trade. She has gone 7-0 in the United States and 5-0 in her native
Brazil.
38: Years of age for Carmouche, who was born on Feb. 19, 1984 in
Lafayette, Louisiana.
3: Carmouche victories by submission, accounting for 19% of her
career total (16). Her methods of choice: two rear-naked chokes and
one armbar. Carmouche owns seven other victories by knockout or
technical knockout and six more by decision.
12: Consecutive calendar years in which Carmouche has fought at
least once. She went 6-0 in 2010, 0-2 in 2011, 2-0 in 2012, 1-2 in
2013, 0-1 in 2014, 1-0 in 2015, 1-0 in 2016, 0-1 in 2017, 1-0 in
2018, 1-1 in 2019, 1-0 in 2020 and 2-0 in 2021.
.763: Cumulative winning percentage between the five women—
Alexis
Davis (twice),
Valentina
Shevchenko,
Miesha Tate,
Ronda
Rousey,
Sarah
Kaufman and
Marloes
Coenen—who have defeated Carmouche. They sport a combined
record of 119-37.
8: Promotions for which Carmouche has competed as a mixed martial
artist. She has gone 5-5 in the UFC, 2-2 in Strikeforce, 3-0 in
Bellator, 2-0 in
Invicta Fighting Championships, 1-0 in C3 Fights, 1-0 in
Ultimate Warrior Challenge, 1-0 in the Native Fighting Championship
and 1-0 in an undisclosed regional organization.