Liz Carmouche wasted no time setting her sights on PFL gold after submitting Viviane Araujo at PFL San Diego on Saturday at Pechanga Arena.
Carmouche finished Araujo with a second-round guillotine choke, then made it clear she wants her next walk to the cage to be for the flyweight championship. "I want to fight for that belt," Carmouche said.
The longtime veteran noted her place in the division and the current title picture at 125 pounds. "I'm ranked No. 2. No. 1 already has her fight lined up, so it only makes sense that if it's not going to be for the bantamweight division, I'm fighting for 125 (title)."
Carmouche has history at 135 pounds, including a previous challenge of Ronda Rousey in the UFC, and said she is tired of cutting weight and would prefer to fight at bantamweight. However, PFL does not offer a women's bantamweight division, leaving flyweight as her target.
Current PFL flyweight champion Dakota Ditcheva is scheduled to return July 31 at PFL New York after withdrawing from a February title defense against Denise Kielholtz due to injury. Carmouche sees that matchup as the key to her own title ambitions. "Dakota vs. Denise is kind of the obvious collision course," she said, later adding, "Unless Dakota injures her hand again and can't finish, I think she's ultimately going to knock out Denise, take some time off, and be ready to fight again at the end of the year. The only person that makes sense for that fight is me."
