"Fighting for a million dollars is a huge factor" - Former Bellator champion Liz Carmouche discusses decision to compete in PFL regular season

Liz Carmouche recently opened up about her decision to enter the PFL regular season, where she will compete in the women's flyweight tournament for an opportunity to win $1 million and add another championship to her resume.

The reigning Bellator women's flyweight champion achieved a great deal of success since her UFC departure and has plenty of momentum ahead of the regular season. She is currently riding a seven-fight winning streak, with six of those wins coming via stoppage.

In a video posted to the PFL's X account, Carmouche explained her decision to join the regular season. She mentioned that her military background helped her to mentally prepare and that the grand prize was a major factor in her decision. She said:

"Definitely fighting for a million dollars is a huge factor, of course it is for anybody, but particularly for a female athlete. Most of us aren't seeing that in a lifetime in our career let alone achieving that in four fights.

"But also just that prospect of including another belt into my journey and having it as part of the chapter of this life now definitely just sealed the mark of why I had to go into PFL [regular season]."

It will be interesting to see how Liz Carmouche does as she will be required to compete more frequently under the regular season format.

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Who is Liz Carmouche fighting in her opening PFL regular season bout?

Liz Carmouche will be no stranger to some of the competitors in the PFL regular season as her opening bout will be against former foe Juliana Velasquez.

This won't be the first time Carmouche and Velasquez share the cage as they have already competed twice before in Bellator. Their first encounter ended in somewhat controversial fashion as 'Girl-Rilla' earned a TKO win that many believed was a premature stoppage to win the women's flyweight championship.

Despite the criticism, Carmouche agreed to an immediate rematch. There was no controversy in their second encounter as she made a statement by earning a decisive second-round submission win. It will be interesting to see whether the Bellator women's flyweight champion will move to 3-0 over Velasquez to kick off her PFL regular season on a positive note.

PFL's tweet regarding Carmouche vs. Velasquez [Image courtesy: @PFLMMA - X]