A familiar face stands between Liz Carmouche and the desire to extend her current championship reign beyond one year.
The Team Hurricane Awesome mainstay will defend the undisputed Bellator MMA women’s flyweight crown against DeAnna Bennett when their rematch headlines Bellator 294 on Friday at the Neil S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. Carmouche steps into the cage with the wind of a five-fight winning streak at her back. She last appeared at Bellator 289, where she retained the 125-pound title with a second-round armbar submission of Juliana Velasquez on Dec. 9. Bennett, meanwhile, has recorded back-to-back-to-back wins since her September 2020 submission loss to Carmouche. She last competed on Aug. 12, when she was awarded a unanimous verdict over Justine Kish at Bellator 284.
As Carmouche and Bennett inch ever closer to their second encounter, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
39: Years of age for Carmouche, who was born on Feb. 19, 1984 in Lafayette, Louisiana.
8: Carmouche victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 45% of her career total (18). Her list of victims includes Velasquez, Kana Watanabe and Jessica Andrade. Carmouche holds four other victories by submission (22%) and six others by decision (33%).
52: Rounds completed by Carmouche as a professional mixed martial artist. She has reached the judges on 11 different occasions and sports a 6-5 record in those bouts.
4: Countries in which Carmouche has plied her MMA trade. She has gone 15-6 in the United States, 2-0 in Mexico, 1-0 in the Czech Republic and 0-1 in Uruguay.
.756: Cumulative winning percentage between the six opponents—Alexis Davis (twice), Valentina Shevchenko, Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey, Sarah Kaufman and Marloes Coenen—who have beaten Carmouche. They carry a combined record of 120-39.
38: Years of age for Bennett, who was born in Fremont, California, on Nov. 18, 1984.
9: Bennett wins by decision, accounting for 69% of her career total (13). Alejandra Lara, Jennifer Maia and Julianna Pena are among those she has outpointed. Bennett owns two other wins by knockout or technical knockout (15.5%) and two more by submission (15.5%).
132: Seconds needed for Bennett to put away Sharon Jacobson with a rear-naked choke at a Showdown Fights event on Jan. 24, 2014. More than nine years later, it remains her fastest finish to date.
11: Consecutive calendar years in which Bennett has fought at least once. She went 1-0 in 2012, 1-0 in 2013, 4-0 in 2014, 2-0 in 2015, 0-2 in 2016, 0-1-1 in 2017, 1-1 in 2018, 1-2 in 2019, 0-1 in 2020, 1-0 in 2021 and 2-0 in 2022.
104: Combined victories between the seven opponents—Carmouche, Miranda Maverick, Karina Rodriguez, Kelly Kobold-Schmitz, Jodie Esquibel, Roxanne Modafferi and Livinha Souza—who have defeated Bennett. They boast a .677 cumulative winning percentage at 104-49-2.
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