Bishop avenges Carmouche stoppage with gritty split decision to claim PFL flyweight title

Jena Bishop claimed the PFL Women’s Flyweight World Championship at PFL Chicago 2 on October 17, defeating Liz Carmouche by unanimous decision — all three judges scoring it 48-47 — to avenge a third-round stoppage she had long argued was premature.

The road to victory was anything but smooth. Carmouche rocked Bishop with punches in the opening round and dominated on the ground with heavy ground-and-pound, earning 10-8 scores from all three unofficial Sherdog scorers. Bishop (12-3) absorbed the damage and reset, then used her grappling to neutralise Carmouche across the final four rounds, repeatedly threatening with takedowns and submission attempts.

The fight’s defining moment came midway through the fifth, when Bishop dragged Carmouche to the mat and locked in a rear-naked choke. Carmouche survived until the final bell, but the judges had seen enough to hand Bishop the title. Notably, none of the three official judges awarded Carmouche the 10-8 first round that most observers felt she had earned, a scoring quirk that shaped the final verdict.

In the co-main event, Gabriel Braga suffered a second consecutive split-decision loss to Timur Khizriev in their featherweight rematch. Braga (17-4) hurt Khizriev with a left hook in the first round and dropped him twice in the second, with all three unofficial Sherdog scorers favouring the Brazilian 29-28. Two of the three official judges disagreed, handing Khizriev (19-0) another narrow victory and keeping his unbeaten record intact.

Sarvarjon Khamidov made a compelling case for a PFL bantamweight title shot by knocking out Rafael do Nascimento at 1:49 of the first round. The Tajik fighter dropped Do Nascimento with a short left hook and finished with hammerfists, improving to 18-1.

Oualy Tandia remained undefeated at 6-0 with a unanimous decision over J.P. Saint Louis in a 173-pound catchweight bout, winning by scores of 30-27 and 29-28 twice. Eliezer Kubanza stopped Trey Waters at 1:36 of the first round in a welterweight contest, dropping Waters twice before follow-up punches ended the fight. Emiliano Sordi recovered from a tough opening round to stop Abraham Bably in the second of their light heavyweight bout, hurting his opponent with punches and knees before Bably collapsed along the fence at 3:13.