Mixed martial arts veteran Liz Carmouche resorted to shaving her head to make weight ahead of her PFL flyweight world title bout against Jena Bishop in Chicago on Friday.
Carmouche, 42, required a rapid haircut before stepping onto the scales. Her team used electric clippers to shave her head to ensure she hit the division's 125lb requirement. Bishop had earlier weighed in just under the limit for the main-event championship bout.
Carmouche smiled on the scales despite the rushed cut, which left some bare spots. She had earlier described reaching the flyweight limit as a difficult task. "My bone density keeps increasing, therefore my weight keeps increasing and I can keep reducing calories but that's not going to change the build of my body," Carmouche said earlier in the week.
The bout is a rematch of a 2025 contest in which Bishop suffered a third-round knockout defeat. Carmouche, a former Bellator flyweight champion who also previously fought in the UFC, holds a record of six wins and one defeat since making her PFL debut in 2024. Bishop, 40, has sustained three losses across eight PFL bouts.
A victory on Friday would mark the 27th professional win for Carmouche, who made her mixed martial arts debut in 2010. The American said she has no plans to step away from the sport and is looking ahead to a potential first title defence against Britain's Dakota Ditcheva, who is recovering from surgery.
Carmouche stated that facing Ditcheva would be the only matchup that makes sense should she win the belt on Friday, indicating that March would give the Briton sufficient time to return.
