Liz Carmouche
Bellator President Scott Coker believes that the controversial ending in the fight between Juliana Velasquez and Liz Carmouche needs to undone by rematching them
Bellator returned to action last Friday with a fresh card at Bellator 278, and an immediate event following the card at Bellator 279 on Saturday. The event took place at Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In the main event, Juliana Velasquez lost her belt to Liz Carmouche, who beat her opponent via TKO in the fourth round. Carmouche opened up with a low kick, but soon Velasquez tagged Carmouche cracked her with a sold left hand. Another calf kick by Carmouche helped her close the distance and, which opened a solid right overhand for Carmouche. While Velasquez tried to keep the fight in distance and land from the outside, Carmouche was determined on making it a dirty fight as she plunged in with wild ferocious movements. Carmouche managed to clinch her at the very end of the round as she kept hitting her opponent with short punches.
In the third round, Velasquez came out strong with the idea that she was falling behind on the cards. Velasquez tagged Carmouche with a stiff left hand and started stalking her opponent. Another nice left hand lands for the champion followed by a right hand. Carmouche landed a beautiful liver shot, but Velasquez ate it like a pancake. Carmouche followed the sequence with a nice calf kick.
In the last round, Velasquez knocked Carmouche down with a left hand again, but it seems as if Carmouche was simply off-balance, which did not count as a lockdown. Velasquez clinched up against the cage. They exchanged gut piercing knees to the body. Carmouche reversed a dangerous position and started unloading some ground-and-pound and the referee stopped the fight. The stoppage in the majority of people’s eyes was early.
Reacting to the fight during his post-fight media interview, Scott Coker stated that he’s glad he’s not a judge, and the fight was extremely competitive, although it was prematurely stopped.
“I’m just glad I’m not a judge,” Coker said. “I would never want to be a referee or judge. That’s something that, hey, those guys are professionals of what they do at the highest level. We travel with the A-crew. He saw it how he saw it, and that’s something that you should ask him next time you see him.”
Coker wants the fighters to lay all the questions to rest, and fight again. “For me, I don’t mind running that fight back,” Coker said. “I think the ladies would definitely scrap again. To me, I don’t mind running that fight back. Believe me, I’m getting calls from the manager and this, but there’s really nothing we can do. The fight is over. It’s already done. Let’s move on. It’s something that we’ll have conversations with both of them when we get back. Then we’ll start building the future for both ladies.”
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