SAN DIEGO – The future may be a little murky for Bellator as a promotion right now, but that doesn’t have to transfer to all of its fighters.
Liz Carmouche, who quickly has become one of Bellator’s most dominant champions with four finishes in four title fights in less than 18 months, seems to have a pretty clear vision of what she’d like her near-term future to be.
Carmouche (20-7 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) on Saturday put away her good friend, former teammate and longtime training partner, and protege, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (13-3 MMA, 12-3 BMMA), with a fifth-round TKO. Carmouche defended the women’s flyweight title at Bellator 300 in San Diego, the home base for her and Macfarlane for years. Macfarlane was ineligible to recapture the belt she held for years because she missed weight.
The fight no doubt was more emotionally draining for Carmouche than normal, given her close friendship with Macfarlane. But with that hurdle cleared, Carmouche wants to go to the other side of the world for her next one.
“I’m going to take some time with my family (first),” Carmouche said after Bellator 300. “Every time that I’m in fight camp, I go away to the East coast for two months to be away and to just concentrate on the fight for two to three months. I haven’t seen my son. I haven’t seen my wife. They’ve been going through a lot, so I want to spend some time with them – hopefully enjoy the holidays because I don’t usually get to do that.
“And then next year, I’d like to start ramping it up and I’d love to face Kana Watanabe in Japan. It’s my dream, it’s my bucket list – to fight back home. I want to go home.”
Source: Mmajunkie
