After winning the PFL Women’s Flyweight World Tournament, what’s next for Liz Carmouche?

This past weekend was a major weekend for combat sports. Kicking things off in Charlotte was the PFL with the conclusion of three of their world tournaments. In the co-main event, former Bellator champion Liz Carmouche (25-8) took on Jena Bishop (9-3).

Typically, you don’t see a lot of trash talk coming from Liz Carmouche. She is normally very stoic but there was a little heat behind this matchup that had Carmouche referring back to training sessions where she had made Bishop cry.

With that, there was a lot of intrigue with this matchup. Carmouche got the better of things in the opening round with her striking, but she found herself in a lot of trouble in the second round. Bishop nearly had an armbar locked in and then she chained that into a triangle attempt. Carmouche powered out but it was a scary moment for her.

In the third round, Carmouche landed what might be the best strike of her career. A left hand from an awkward angle landed flush on Bishop’s chin sending her crashing to the mat. Carmouche followed up and won the PFL Women’s Flyweight World Tournament with authority.

What’s next for the PFL tournament champion?

Back in 2019, Liz Carmouche lost a decision to Valentina Shevchenko for the UFC flyweight title. After that matchup, Carmouche left the promotion and signed with Bellator. Given where she was at in her career, there were a lot of questions surrounding her future.

Since leaving the UFC, Carmouche has been on the run of her career. In Bellator, she went a perfect 7-0 which included becoming the flyweight champion and defending the title three times. Once PFL acquired Bellator, Carmouche made the jump and went into last year’s regular season.

Since making her PFL debut, Carmouche has gone 5-1 with the lone loss being a decision to Taila Santos in last year’s playoffs. This year, she went 3-0 to capture the tournament championship making her 12-1 in her last 13 fights.

It’s very clear what should be next for Carmouche and that’s a matchup with last year’s regular season champion and promotional star, Dakota Ditcheva.

Ditcheva just returned last month where she dominated Sumiko Inaba. Ditcheva did injure her hand in that matchup and needed surgery. Whenever she’s ready to come back, the PFL has the perfect fight with Carmouche.