Liz Carmouche left nothing to chance on the scale. Ahead of her PFL Chicago main event against Jena Bishop, the former Bellator flyweight champion had her head shaved before stepping up, then registered exactly 125 pounds, the championship limit, MMA Fighting reported. Bishop weighed in at 124.6, and the rest of the card made weight. The vacant PFL women’s flyweight title is on the line Friday, Oct. 16, at Wintrust Arena. Results will be added here as the fights finish.
Gaston “Tonga” Reyno wrote on X that Carmouche had to cut her hair to make weight. It’s an unglamorous detail, and a telling one. Carmouche has spent a long career learning which ounces matter.
The rematch
The first fight was short and violent. In August 2025 at PFL Charlotte, Carmouche knocked Bishop out to win the PFL flyweight tournament. Since then the 42-year-old has kept rolling. She has won four straight, finishing three of those opponents, most recently a submission of former UFC ranked contender Viviane Araujo at PFL San Diego on June 27. She is 26-8 overall, 13-1 since leaving the UFC, and holds the No. 14 spot in MMA Fighting’s pound-for-pound rankings. Her last UFC appearance was a unanimous decision loss to Valentina Shevchenko in August 2019, and she fought for a UFC title before that.
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ESPN noted this will be the sixth rematch of Carmouche’s career, which says something about how often she has been asked to answer the same question twice.
Bishop has won four of her past five to earn the second shot. Speaking to MiddleEasy before the fight, she pointed to a rushed triangle attempt as the tactical mistake she wants to avoid against Carmouche this time.
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The rest of the card
The featherweight co-main features undefeated Timur Khizriev (145.4) against PFL veteran Gabriel Braga (145.8). Sarvarjon Khamidov (135.8) meets Rafael do Nascimento (135.4), and JP Saint Louis (172.8) faces Oualy Tandia (170) to round out the main card.
The preliminary card includes former UFC welterweight Trey Waters (170.4) against Eliezer Kubanza (170.2). Waters is 10-2 and coming off a TKO of Truman Carson at PFL Charlotte on Aug. 7. Gamid Khizriev (155.6) faces Michael Boylan (155), Cassio Barao (154.2) meets Kevin Pease (155.6), and Emiliano Sordi (205.2) takes on Abraham Bably (205.8). At flyweight, Shannon Clark (125.8) fights Lucero Acosta (125), and Paulina Wisniewska and Chelsea Hackett both came in at 125.6. Cobey Fehr vs. Rosario Romero, Lenan Khabalaev vs. Brock Hamer, and Noah Hermosillo vs. Caden Cox complete the lineup.
How to watch: Prelims start at 6 p.m. ET on the ESPN App and ESPN+. The main card follows at 11 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
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Quick take
Bishop has the harder job, and she knows it. She’s reworking the exact sequence that got her in trouble last time against a fighter who has lost once in 14 tries. Carmouche at 42 is a fighter who shaves her head to avoid a scale scare, and that kind of care tends to carry into the cage. If Bishop’s fix for the triangle holds up past the first exchange on the mat, this gets interesting. If it doesn’t, Carmouche walks out with the belt she has been fighting toward since Charlotte.
