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It’s not often you see PFL get a mention during a UFC pay-per-view broadcast, yet, Liz Carmouche’s latest triumph made that happen.
At 41 years of age, Carmouche (25–8) won the 2025 PFL women’s flyweight tournament earlier this month, knocking out Jena Bishop in the third-round of their championship. The following night, during the UFC 319 broadcast, famed commentator Joe Rogan went out of his way to give Carmouche her flowers.
“By the way, shout out to Liz Carmouche,” Rogan said during a women’s strawweight bout between Loopy Godinez and Jessica Andrade. “First woman to ever enter the UFC Octagon, and at 41, won the PFL tournament last night. Yes, sir, by KO. Shout out to Liz.”
Carmouche competed in the UFC from 2011 to 2019, She was the first woman to ever walk out to the UFC octagon in the first ever women’s fight in the UFC – a bantamweight title bout against Ronda Rousey. Carmouche also challenged for the UFC women’s flyweight belt, losing a decision against Valentina Shevchenko.
“Girl-Rilla” was pleased to get that mention, and the fans made sure she heard about it.
“I had quite a few people tag me and share it to my story (on Instagram),” Carmouche told MMA Junkie. “It was really cool to see that cross promotion mention of anyone else is a big deal. And for it to be someone like Joe Rogan, that’s an even bigger deal for him to mention anything in a positive light. I was definitely riding cloud nine on that, seeing Joe Rogan’s shout-out to me.”
Carmouche is one of the most seasoned fighters today. She’s been fighting professionally since 2010 and fought for the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight belt, the UFC title in two different occasions, won and defended the Bellator title three times, and now crowned herself 2025 PFL women’s flyweight tournament champion.
Carmouche doesn’t often take a step back to admire her body of work, but when she does, she’s even surprised about how much she’s achieved in the sport.
“(I don’t think about it) really, but to some degree when it’s in conversations, with people when they ask questions,” Carmouche explained. “Like trying to explain to my son, as he’s taking a little more interest in MMA now, and trying to explain all the different people and everything that I have accomplished and stuff. He’s like, ‘Wait, so you’ve done this and that?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I guess I have done a lot.’ When you’re caught up in the moment of just trying to evolve as much as possible in between fights, you kind of lose the perspective on some of the things you’ve accomplished. I’m big on not necessarily looking back in the past, but in those conversations you realize, ‘Holy crap, maybe I should be in the UFC Hall of Fame,’ or (Jonathan) Coachman mentions it, and I certainly hope so. I would love if there was a UFC Hall of Fame I could be a part of. If PFL created one, I could be part of that, too. That would be really awesome just to add to the things I have accomplished.”
