Cat Zingano, Liz Carmouche Set To Make Returns At Bellator 256

Cat ZinganoWhen Bellator launches on Showtime, it will do so with a couple of former UFC title challengers in Cat Zingano and Liz Carmouche. The card will mark the sophomore appearances for both fighters after a pair of successful debuts. Zingano entered the Bellator cage for the first time last September opposite Gabby Holloway. It was […]

Cat Zingano

When Bellator launches on Showtime, it will do so with a couple of former UFC title challengers in Cat Zingano and Liz Carmouche.

The card will mark the sophomore appearances for both fighters after a pair of successful debuts.

Zingano entered the Bellator cage for the first time last September opposite Gabby Holloway. It was her first fight since December 2018 after being released by the UFC following a TKO loss to Megan Anderson that capped a 1-4 stretch. Zingano looked in fine form in her return, dominating Holloway on the way to a unanimous decision. In her next outing, she will face Olivia Parker. After starting her career 4-0, Parker made her Invicta debut in July 2020, losing by submission in 65 seconds.

The first female fighter to step into the UFC octagon, Carmouche was released by the UFC after going 5-5 and twice challenging for promotional gold. She quickly found a new home in Bellator and debuted with a third-round submission over DeAnna Bennett at Bellator 246 last September. She’ll now meet Vanessa Porto, who has quiet the impressive resume of her own.

A longtime staple of Invicta FC, Porto fought 11 times for the promotion, challenging for the flyweight title on three occasions. After falling short against Barb Honchak and Jennifer Maia in her first attempts, the third time proved to be the charm as she finally claimed the belt with a decision win over Pearl Gonzalez. Overall, Porto has won four-in-a-row and will look to keep her momentum rolling in her Bellator debut.

Zingano and Carmouche won’t be the only former UFC fighters featured at Bellator 256. The event kicks off the promotion’s light heavyweight tournament and showcases Ryan Bader, Lyoto Machida and Corey Anderson at the top of the card. Bader and Machida will square off against each other, while Anderson will welcome Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov to the Bellator ranks.

Bellator 256 takes place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut on April 9. The main card airs on Showtime at 9PM ET.

How do you think Cat Zingano and Liz Carmouche will fair in their fights?

VIDEO | Liz Carmouche Ready For Bellator Debut, Eyes Title Shot

Liz Carmouche (13-7) chats to Ryan MacCarthy ahead of her flyweight fight against DeAnna Bennett (10-6-1) at Bellator 245 this Friday night, September 11. The card will be headlined by a Bantamweight bout featuring Juan Archuleta facing off agai…

liz carmouche

Liz Carmouche (13-7) chats to Ryan MacCarthy ahead of her flyweight fight against DeAnna Bennett (10-6-1) at Bellator 245 this Friday night, September 11. The card will be headlined by a Bantamweight bout featuring Juan Archuleta facing off against Patchy Mix at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.

Check it out above and subscribe to the LowKickMMA YouTube channel here: https://shorturl.at/JTVX9

Liz Carmouche: UFC Wanted Me Fighting At 145-pounds Before Release

Liz Carmouche is set to make her Bellator debut on Saturday against DeAnna Bennett and mentioned prior to parting ways with the UFC, the Las Vegas-based promotion wanted her to fight at featherweight. “(Signing with Bellator) was actually somethi…

Liz Carmouche is set to make her Bellator debut on Saturday against DeAnna Bennett and mentioned prior to parting ways with the UFC, the Las Vegas-based promotion wanted her to fight at featherweight. “(Signing with Bellator) was actually something that I was trying to work out even before I got cut from the UFC,” Carmouche […]

The post Liz Carmouche: UFC Wanted Me Fighting At 145-pounds Before Release appeared first on MMA News.

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Liz Carmouche ‘Totally Prepared To Fight Each Other’

Bellator women’s flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane has no problem facing Liz Carmouche. Macfarlane successfully defended her title at Bellator Hawaii this past weekend when she outpointed Kate Jackson in the headliner. Speaking to media after the fight, the Hawaiian revealed she had no qualms about potentially facing new Bellator signing Carmouche if the promotion kicked […]

The post Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Liz Carmouche ‘Totally Prepared To Fight Each Other’ appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Bellator women’s flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane has no problem facing Liz Carmouche.

Macfarlane successfully defended her title at Bellator Hawaii this past weekend when she outpointed Kate Jackson in the headliner. Speaking to media after the fight, the Hawaiian revealed she had no qualms about potentially facing new Bellator signing Carmouche if the promotion kicked off a flyweight grand prix.

That, despite the fact that they are friends and teammates:

“We are totally prepared to fight each other,” Macfarlane told MMA Junkie. “Obviously we’d want to be on the opposite sides of the brackets, but yeah, I am so down for a tournament.

“In fact, when I heard that Scott announced it, I was like, ‘OK, great, I don’t have to call it out on the mic.’”

It’s a sentiment that is shared by Carmouche herself.

However, there are some things that would need to be worked out if they did end up facing each other in the future.

“The only thing that we have to figure out – and we’ve already talked about this with our coaches – because Liz and I have been with Manolo and Bill since the beginning, and so they’re like, ‘What are we going to do?’” Macfarlane added. “And we’re like, ‘OK, why don’t you guys just be in the audience, and we’ll just have our teammates corner us or something?’”

What do you make of Macfarlane’s comments?

The post Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, Liz Carmouche ‘Totally Prepared To Fight Each Other’ appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Liz Carmouche Has No Problem Fighting Friend, Teammate & Bellator Champ Ilima-lei Macfarlane

Liz Carmouche is now a member of the Bellator MMA roster. Carmouche will likely join the promotion’s 125-pound division, which is looking very good at the moment. Of course, should Carmouche dominate her way to the top of the mountain and earn herself a title opportunity, she’d be fighting her friend and teammate Ilima-lei Macfarlane. […]

The post Liz Carmouche Has No Problem Fighting Friend, Teammate & Bellator Champ Ilima-lei Macfarlane appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Liz Carmouche is now a member of the Bellator MMA roster.

Carmouche will likely join the promotion’s 125-pound division, which is looking very good at the moment. Of course, should Carmouche dominate her way to the top of the mountain and earn herself a title opportunity, she’d be fighting her friend and teammate Ilima-lei Macfarlane. Speaking to MMA Junkie at a Bellator 236 media scrum, Carmouche explained why she thinks a potential fight with Macfarlane won’t be a problem.

“We’ve always had that sneaking suspicion that this moment could happen,” Carmouche said. “We always knew in our hearts that eventually we’re going to be fighting each other for the belt. We already knew that, and we’ve been in talks about that for a long time. I think to other people it comes as a surprise instead of a reality, but it’s just a matter of when it was going to come to fruition.

“And we’ve already competed side-by-side in tournaments, so we’ve always had that same mentality. We’re going to throw down. It’s you and me, (and) we are going to go harder than anybody else and try to snap each other’s limbs off, choke each other out. And if it’s fighting, we’re going to hit each other harder.

“There have been days when we go to train with each other and were like, ‘I’m sorry I have to do this to you, but you have to be ready for your fight.’ We don’t want to, but you hit them as hard as you can, so fighting wouldn’t be any different.”

Macfarlane comes off a successful title defense over the weekend, dominating opponent Kate Jackson for a unanimous decision win in the Bellator 236 main event. It will be interesting to see if a fight with Carmouche materializes in 2020.

What do you think about a potential matchup between Macfarlane and Carmouche?

The post Liz Carmouche Has No Problem Fighting Friend, Teammate & Bellator Champ Ilima-lei Macfarlane appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Newly Signed Bellator Fighter Liz Carmouche Happy To Move On From UFC’s ‘PR Nightmare’

Liz Carmouche is glad that she can put the circumstances surrounding her UFC release behind her. Carmouche wasn’t surprised to be given her walking papers from the UFC despite coming off a flyweight title fight. What did throw “Girl-Rilla&#…

Liz Carmouche is glad that she can put the circumstances surrounding her UFC release behind her. Carmouche wasn’t surprised to be given her walking papers from the UFC despite coming off a flyweight title fight. What did throw “Girl-Rilla” off was the way in which she was notified of her release. Carmouche was brought out […]

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