Liz Carmouche Successfully Defends Flyweight Title in Bellator 294 Main Event

😱 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗟𝗟@iamgirlrilla weathers the storm to submit @DeAnnaDBennett in Round 4️⃣.#Bellator294 | LIVE NOW | @SHOsports pic.twitter.com/RbmtEeTskA

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) April 22, 2023

With her back up against the fence, Liz Carmouche proved why she’s still amongst the top female fighters in the world after rallying to defeat DeAnna Bennett in the Bellator 294 main event Friday night at Neil S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu.

Heading into the fourth round down on the scorecards, Carmouche struggled to keep Bennett at bay on the feet. Bennett’s pressure kept Carmouche pinned on her back as she searched for any submission she could find. Keeping Carmouche on the defensive worked well for the Daniel Gracie protégé. Bennett’s commitment to wrestling and outworking the champ led the action until midway into the fourth round.

Sensing that her title was beginning to slip from her grasp, Carmouche caught Bennett in a half-crucifix before trapping her near the fence. Despite not having enough space to slip between Bennett and the cage, Carmouche was still able to finish her arm-triangle off pure position mastery.

Carmouche’s win with 31 seconds left in the fourth round gave the Bellator MMA champion her second title defense and sixth straight win.

In the co-main event, Tim Johnson decisioned Said Sowma in a three-round heavyweight clash (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). Despite lacking the foot speed of a man eight years his junior, Johnson slowed Sowma down with consistent clinch work.

Fresh off his split decision loss in the Bantamweight World Grand Prix semis, Danny Sabatello left zero doubt in his three-round feature bout against Marcos Breno. Sabatello showed poise, patience and personality before taking out Breno with a rear-naked choke at the 4:10 mark of the second round. Although Sabatello (14-2) would’ve loved to take part in Saturday’s tournament finale, “The Italian Gangster” has big aspirations for his future. Moments after his first finish in Bellator, Sabatello called out choke artist Magomed Magomedov.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship contender Sara McMann shined in her Bellator debut against company vet Arlene Blencowe. McMann dog walked Blencowe throughout the first two rounds with immense top pressure and a viscous use of the muay thai clinch and cruised to an unanimous decision victory (29-27, 30-27, 30-26).

Related » Bellator 294 Round-by-Round Scoring

Levan Chokheli (12-3) won his second-straight fight after decisioning Michael Lombardo (13-4) in the opening bout of the main card (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). Chokheli’s busy hands and outside trips shined early and late. “The Don” found some success against the cage in round two but couldn’t capitalize or make effective use of his pressure.

Bellator 294’s prelims were marred by an avoidable — yet justified — disqualification. After fighting off Tyrell Fortune’s top pressure, Bellator debutant Sergey Bilostenniy dropped Fortune with an elbow behind the ear. Bilostenniy followed Fortune to the mat and landed multiple punches to the back of the head while ignoring several verbal warnings from referee Chris West.

Bilostenniy landed nearly a dozen rabbit punches before West finally called him off and snapped his five-fight win streak. Fortune improved to 13-3 thanks to the DQ.

Cris Lencioni (11-3) and Killys Mota highlighted the four-fight appetizer with a pair of sleek submissions. After trading haymakers early with Blake Smith, Lencioni dragged the featherweight prospect to the ground and overwhelmed him with submission attempts. Lencioni finally caught Smith in an inverted triangle choke at the 3:39 mark of the second round. “Sunshine” needed a strong performance after he failed to make weight (152.4) for the catchweight bout and his dominance on the ground was glaring.

Mota shrugged off a slow start against skilled prospect Kenneth Cross. After fighting Cross off his back for most of the first round, the 32-year-old Brazilan’s experience took over in the second. Mota sunk in a rear-naked choke for his third straight win. Sharaf Davlatmurodov kicked off the YouTube telecast with a 30-27 x3 unanimous decision win over Anthony Adams. After two even rounds on the feet, Davlatmurdov outworked Adams in the third round, mixing in some ground-and-pound with his lone takedown of the fight.