DeAnna Bennett Heavy, Ineligible to Win Title

The headlining match for the Bellator
MMA flyweight title is in jeopardy after the challenger missed
weight.

The main event of
Bellator 294 will see Liz
Carmouche once again face off against DeAnna
Bennett. While the champion checked in at 125 pounds on the
dot, her opponent could not say the same. Bennett (13-7-1)
initially weighed 2.2 pounds over the limit at 127.2 pounds on her
first attempt, and took the additional time to come back above the
125-pound championship cap at 126.2 pounds. As a result, should the
fight continue, Bennett will be ineligible to win the throne and
has been fined a percentage of her purse. Per MMA
Junkie, Carmouche has decided that should she lose on Friday,
she will vacate her title.

The two first met in 2020, with “Girl-Rilla” securing a rear-naked
choke submission in her promotional debut — in a fight where
Bennett also missed weight. Since then, Carmouche (18-7) has
remained perfect in Bellator, eventually capturing the flyweight
strap from Juliana
Velasquez. She’ll look to keep her five-fight win streak intact
against Bennett, who has put together three straight wins against
Alejandra
Lara and Justine
Kish. The overweight “Vitamin D” will be out for revenge in her
first-ever Bellator main event, providing she clears medicals.

Bellator 294 will air live on Friday on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/7
p.m. PT. Prelims will stream on the promotion’s YouTube channel at
8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT.

Bellator 294 Weigh-in Results:

Liz
Carmouche (125) vs. DeAnna
Bennett (126.2)*
Tim
Johnson (262) vs. Said Sowma
(239.2)
Arlene
Blencowe (146) vs. Sara McMann
(145.6)
Marcos
Breno (136) vs. Danny
Sabatello (135.6)
Levan
Chokheli (169.6) vs. Michael
Lombardo (170.8)
Kenneth
Cross (155.2) vs. Killys Mota
(156)
Sergey
Bilostenniy (240) vs. Tyrell
Fortune (259.6)
Cris
Lencioni (152.4)** vs. Blake Smith
(146.4)***
Anthony
Adams (185.6) vs. Sharaf
Davlatmurodov (185.4)

* Bennett missed weight by 1.2 pounds, cannot win the title and
has been fined a percentage of her purse.
** Lencioni missed weight by 6.4 pounds and has been fined a
percentage of his purse.
*** Smith missed weight by .4 pounds and has been fined a
percentage of his purse.