Liz Carmouche believes the future of women’s bantamweight hinges on marketability, and she did not hold back when asked about the division’s issues following her latest win.
Carmouche, who owns 16 years of professional MMA experience and was the first woman to step into a UFC cage when she fought Ronda Rousey in 2013, is currently competing at flyweight in PFL because the promotion does not offer a women’s bantamweight division. She is coming off a submission victory over Viviane Araujo in the PFL San Diego co-main event in San Diego.
"I'll give you my honest answer, and I don't think a lot of people are going to like it," Carmouche said when discussing the state of 135 pounds. "My honest answer is that I think that each division needs a pretty girl. Sadly, that's the world that we live in."
Carmouche added that presentation and fan expectations play a major role in how divisions are pushed. "Right now, the 135 division was led by a masculine-representing female, and that started to kill off the division – which is another reason why I'm probably not the face of this division, either, because I'm not that pretty girl. I'm a masculine presenting female, so I'm not going to represent what's the appeal to most straight men, which is the strongest fan base in women's MMA: It's white males, 18 to 34 years old. They're looking for women that are pretty. They're not looking for masculine-presenting women."
Looking ahead, Carmouche could next fight the winner of Dakota Ditcheva vs. Denise Kielholtz, who meet in the PFL New York co-main event at the end of the month. She has made it clear, though, that she would prefer to compete at 135 pounds rather than flyweight.
"I think if we can find a pretty girl for 135, sadly – and I wish that wasn't the case – but that's what we need for that division to exploit," Carmouche said. "Then we can get that and I think having that representing the 135 division, that's what ultimately (we need)."
