After a controversial ending to their first meeting, Liz
Carmouche and Juliana
Velasquez are going to run it back at
Bellator 289.
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The California-based promotion confirmed the booking on Wednesday
following an initial report from
MMAFighting.com. Bellator 289 takes place on Dec. 9 at Mohegan
Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., and the evening’s main card airs on
Showtime. The card will feature the bantamweight grand prix
semifinals, as Raufeon
Stots meets Danny
Sabatello, while Magomed
Magomedov takes on Patrick
Mix.
Carmouche took the flyweight crown from Velasquez in their first
bout at Bellator 278 this past April. Velasquez appeared to be well
on her way to a decision triumph when Carmouche trapped in her in a
mounted crucifix and landed a series of elbows to earn a technical
knockout victory 4:48 into the fourth round of their clash at Neil
S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Velasquez protested the
stoppage and ultimately filed an appeal, arguing that none of the
strikes were significant enough to warrant a stoppage. The Hawaii
State Boxing Commission ultimately
denied Velasquez’s appeal while supporting referee Mike
Beltran’s decision to “err on the side of caution.”
Carmouche, 38, is 4-0 in Bellator since leaving the UFC following a
loss to Valentina
Shevchenko in a 125-pound title bout in August 2019. Before
moving to flyweight, Carmouche challenged for bantamweight gold in
two different organizations, falling to Ronda
Rousey in the UFC and to Marloes
Coenen in Strikeforce. Camrouche’s resume includes victories
over the likes of Shevchenko, Jessica
Andrade, Katlyn
Chookagian, Lauren
Murphy, Jennifer
Maia and Vanessa
Porto, among others.
Velasquez was victorious in her first 12 professional outings
before the defeat against Carmouche. She claimed the flyweight belt
with a five-round verdict over Ilima-Lei
Macfarlane at Bellator 254 and defended it in a split-decision
triumph against Denise
Kielholtz at Bellator 262.