In an iconic career that spans from the UFC’s first women’s fight to a Bellator world title, Liz Carmouche has seen it all.
The flyweight star turned 40 this year, but is showing no signs of slowing down as she continues on the most lucratice purple patch of her career. After leaving the UFC for Bellator on the back of a loss to Valentina Shevchenko, she has never lost again and is currently on a nine-fight winning run.
Now, she is just two more victories away from winning PFL gold, and the $1million prize that comes with it. The April-November season sees fighters compete four times in just seven months, but she believes that there’s no better format in a sport that can otherwise be tumultuous for its athletes.
Liz Carmouche details why she prefers PFL season to UFC and Bellator formats
Having competed across all different promotions over the years, there are few who understand the pros and cons of different fight leagues better than Liz Carmouche. A world title contender in both Strikeforce and the UFC, she was finally crowned champion in Bellator last year at their 300th show.
After that event, the promotion was bought out by PFL and she moved into their season format, where she was signed up for a prospective four fights from April to November. And speaking with Bloody Elbow, she noted that she prefers the certainty that comes with the rigidly-planned schedule.
“You’re trying to make sure that your peak level of performance and physical shape is where it needs to be when you head into the fight,” Carmouche explained.
“And when you don’t know if that’s going to be two weeks, nine months, a year, and you can’t gauge it? You can’t ramp up your training to where it needs to be, you’re just on standby and hopeful so it’s way easier doing PFL.
“You know exactly when to keep it and then just peak at this point and it’s way easier to plan out your fight camp. I much prefer this style to the not knowing and ‘just wait for the phone call’ game.”
Liz Carmouche details how PFL structure impacts her family life
The legendary flyweight is married to her wife Brae Chapman after the pair met around a decade ago, and the pair live together on a farm with their son. And she admitted that it would be a struggle over the years with leaving abruptly for fight camps when given a short notice call.
Now, she has a rigid structure for the year and while it is a gruelling process from the beginning of her first camp in February, she can plan ahead for her home life. “If somebody asks me ‘next month can you come to my wedding?’ I’d be like ‘I don’t know is the only answer’,” Carmouche explained.
“I was living my life in such a way where people could only ask me, like, two days before because that was the only way I could say yes to anything. That’s super difficult. Or I’d tell my son ‘hey I’m going to take you to school in the morning’, then actually no, I’m out, flying back to San Diego for fight camp.
“This is so much easier to plan out and it makes my life a whole lot easier. Now of course I do go away for fight camps and that’s got its own difficulties because I’m only getting to see my son on videos and Facetime, I’m not there as he’s developing into a young man.
“He’s having all these life experiences and I’m not able to see it except on my phone where it’s like ‘oh his first wrestling class? And I didn’t get to be be there!’ That’s super difficult, but I also know that what I’m trying to achieve is going to take care of my family and set us all up for success.”
Liz Carmouche refuses to entertain retirement talks as she plans out PFL future
Despite reaching the age of 40, Carmouche is not interested in entertaining the thought of retirement from MMA after almost 15 years in the sport. In fact, she has plans to help the promotion introduce a new division next year, and has designs on winning both this year and next year’s tournaments.
“I am going to keep doing this,” she insisted. “I’d love to open up that 135lb division and have a new season at that weight. My wife has a rare heart disease and a few auto-immune diseases so I want to have the funds to be able to take care of all those bills and get her health to where it needs to be.
“I’d have a different opinion if I was losing! I’m in the gym and I have 19-year-olds and 20-year-olds outpaced, taking breaks dying on the mats training with me. So I don’t see any reason why I would stop now.”
- NOT FOR EVERYBODY: Don Madge details why he prefers PFL season format to stop-start UFC run