Jena Bishop had to wait 25 months for a second shot at Liz Carmouche, and she made the most of the opportunity, using her elite grappling to win a back-and-forth battle by unanimous decision to become the inaugural PFL women's flyweight champion Friday night at PFL Chicago.
Bishop persevered through a first round during which Carmouche dropped her twice and inflicted damage on the ground, appearing on the verge of finishing Bishop. But Bishop survived the round and turned around the fight in the second, taking the action to the canvas and threatening submissions.
A multiple-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, Bishop continued her grappling dominance in the third round before Carmouche regained the momentum by landing heavy punches in the fourth round.
With each fighter having seized a clear advantage in two rounds, it all came down to Round 5. Not that Bishop was aware of that.
"Honestly, I thought that the fourth round was the last one," Bishop (12-3) said after her third straight win. "And then I realized, 'Oh, shoot, I have another round.' But I knew I just had to get it to the ground and I would be able to take it home."
And that she did, spending the final four minutes back in control on the canvas, threatening a rear-naked choke. Bishop didn't get the finish, but she earned the nod from all three judges (48-47, 48-47,48-47) to capture the vacant title.
The fight between former training partners was a rematch of the PFL women's flyweight tournament final in 2025, the final year of the fight promotion's tournament format. Bishop had Carmouche in trouble on the canvas in that bout, but Carmouche survived submission attempts and scored a TKO in the third.
Bishop earned a belt and another chance at redemption Friday. Sitting cageside at Wintrust Arena was undefeated flyweight star Dakota Ditcheva, who has been out injured but was brought into the cage after the fight to face off with the winner. Bishop fought Ditcheva in a 2024 PFL tournament semifinal and lost by first-round TKO.
Carmouche (26-9), who had won four fights in a row and 13 of her past 14, had to shave her head to make the 125-pound limit at Thursday's weigh-in. The 42-year-old is a former Bellator MMA flyweight champion, competed for belts in two UFC weight classes and also fought for the Strikeforce bantamweight championship in 2011, a year after making her pro debut.
