Liz Carmouche wanted to know why she was released from the UFC, and she got her answer.
Liz Carmouche competed in the very first UFC WMMA fight, challenging Ronda Rousey for the UFC women’s bantamweight championship. In some light, it is apropos that her final UFC fight was also for a world title. In both cases, Carmouche came out on the losing end. After the first title fight, Carmouche would go on to compete in the UFC for over six more years. But after her second title fight loss, against Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight championship at UFC Uruguay, she would find out she had fought in the UFC for the last time. The reason? The woman who played a pivotal role in helping build UFC WMMA now presented a danger to the growth of one of its divisions (Via ESPN):
“The reason that they gave is that they’re really trying to build up the division and every female that they’ve brought into the 125-pound division, I’ve been able to beat them,” Carmouche told ESPN. “So it’s not really giving them the opportunity to build up the division the way they’ve wanted to. So for the best well-being of the division, they had to cut me to give me an opportunity to go elsewhere and get the fights I need.”
Carmouche feels that she is being punished for being successful and that, as far as reasons for being released go, this reason stings more than others she can conceive of:
“What that tells me is that [other fighters are] so scared of me [the UFC] can’t do anything about it,” Carmouche said. “I mean, it would be worse if they were like, you’re just not good enough, we’re just gonna have to cut you. Instead of, all the females are afraid of me. I’d much rather have it fear for them than it be that I just wasn’t skilled enough or made a mistake that cost it.”
What’s your opinion on the reason the UFC provided for Liz Carmouche’s release?
