After DeAnna Bennett missed weight for her Bellator 294 main event with women’s flyweight champion Liz Carmouche, the titleholder made it clear she wanted to hand out some punishment. Carmouche was far from dominant but was able to score a fourth-round arm-triangle choke to retain her title.

The fight was the second meeting between Bennett and Carmouche, with the pair having met in September 2020. Bennett had also missed weight for that contest and was finished by a third-round rear-naked choke. For Friday’s rematch, Bennett’s weight miss meant she could not win the title but also that Carmouche would lose the belt if Bennett managed to score the win.

Bennett had a strong start, scoring a takedown early in the first round and maintaining top position until the end of the frame. While Carmouche had more success on the feet in the second round, Bennett again had several moments where she was in control on the ground.

That template would continue to be followed, with Carmouche winning almost every striking exchange, landing the harder punches, but Bennett continuing to find ways to get inside, score takedowns and hold position on the ground.

Things finally flipped in Round 4, with Carmouche able to successfully defend a takedown and lock up a crucifix to first land elbows before eventually moving to mount. Once in mount, Carmouche slowly worked her way into the arm-triangle before slowly increasing the pressure until Bennett was forced to tap out.

After the fight, Carmouche pointed to Bennett not needing to fully cut weight for the fight as to why she came out so strong, but that she simply needed to wait for Bennett’s gas tank to begin to fail to take the fight over.

With the win, Carmouche remains undefeated in the Bellator cage and has now made two successful defenses of her championship.

Bennett is now 3-2 in Bellator, both losses coming against Carmouche. She has missed weight for three of her five bouts, leading to questions of where she goes following the loss.