L. Carmouche poses with his team. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram @iamgirlrilla
The American, Liz Carmouche, will try, this Saturday, at UFC Montevideo, to win her first belt since joining the group of Ultimate athletes. After a failed attempt against Ronda Rousey, for the bantamweight title (up to 61,2kg.), Liz is now trying to beat the champion Valentina Shevchenko, who he already beat in 2010, and won the flyweight belt (up to 56,7kg.). In an interview with 'Combate', the athlete spoke about her expectations for this weekend's clash.
See too
“To beat Valentina, I have to be flexible and take advantage of opportunities. One of the things that happens is that people go with just one strategy, a single mentality, that they can only win one way. When that doesn't work, it breaks everything they have in mind. One of the things I will take away is that any opportunity that arises, I will take advantage of, and I think that will help me”, said the challenger.
This will be the second time that Carmouche shares a fight space with Valentina. In 2010, the athletes faced each other and the North American won by technical knockout. On that occasion, the current champion suffered a cut on her face and was prevented by the judges from continuing the fight. Carmouche, however, does not take the previous battle as a motivating factor. For her, over the years, both had the chance to evolve as athletes and will fight a different fight to what happened almost 10 years ago.
“The first fight against Valentina is still very vague. I was very new to the sport. I had only been training for a few months. The biggest lesson I took away from that fight wasn't necessarily the experience of fighting, because I think we've changed too much as fighters to support me in that, but more that the organization we fought in was so dirty that I should actually fight your sister, not with her,” Liz said.
This Saturday, Carmouche will have, for the second time, the opportunity to become Ultimate champion. When she was acting for the bantamweight division, the fighter qualified to challenge the legendary Ronda Rousey, in 2013. On that occasion, Liz almost surprised the then champion with a rear naked choke. However, after the failed attempt, the athlete ended up submitting with an armbar in the first round.
Currently, Liz is 35 years old and has 19 fights in her professional record, with 13 wins and six defeats.
The champion, in turn, has 20 fights, with 17 victories and three setbacks.
Comments