Carmouche makes championship weight as PFL Chicago card drops to 13 bouts

Liz Carmouche and Jena Bishop both made championship weight at Thursday's official PFL Chicago weigh-ins, confirming the women's flyweight title main event. Carmouche registered 125 pounds after having her head shaved, while Bishop weighed 124.6 pounds, according to results published by MMA Fighting. The event takes place Friday at Wintrust Arena.

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BBC Sport reported that Carmouche's team used electric clippers before the 42-year-old stepped onto the scales. She smiled and touched her newly cut hair after completing the weigh-in. The former UFC and Bellator fighter reached the required limit, leaving the title contest intact despite the unusual last-minute preparation.

There was a separate change elsewhere on the card. MMAWeekly reported that the women's strawweight bout between Benita van Rooij and Giuliany Perea had been removed because Perea was not medically cleared. Its updated report listed 13 remaining bouts. The report did not specify the medical reason behind the decision.

MMAWeekly's results also marked JP Saint Louis as having missed weight at 172.8 pounds. His contest against Oualy Tandia, who registered 170 pounds, remained on the updated main card as a 173-pound catchweight bout. That listing distinguished the contest from the championship main event, for which both fighters reached the required weight.

In the featherweight co-main event, Timur Khizriev weighed 145.4 pounds and Gabriel Braga came in at 145.8. Sarvarjon Khamidov registered 135.8 pounds for his bantamweight contest against Rafael do Nascimento, who weighed 135.4. Those readings were included in both MMA Fighting's results and MMAWeekly's updated card following the official session.

Carmouche and Bishop previously met in the 2025 PFL tournament final, which Carmouche won by knockout. MMA Fighting reported that Carmouche has since extended her winning run to four bouts, with three finishes in that sequence. Her most recent victory came against Viviane Araujo in June.

PFL's official event announcement described Friday's main event as the inaugural women's flyweight world championship, distinct from the earlier tournament title. The promotion listed Carmouche's record as 26-8 and Bishop's as 11-3, and said Bishop had earned two first-round submission victories since their previous meeting.