Bellator 243 Goes Down on May 29 With Liz Carmouche-Mandy Bohm Flyweight Headliner

Carmouche makes her Bellator debut in May at #Bellator243 pic.twitter.com/dFO3PUPsFJ

— Carbazel MMA (@Carbazel) March 6, 2020

Bellator MMA is returning to California in May with a high-stakes flyweight matchup in the main event.

The promotion announced via press release on Friday that Liz Carmouche (13-7) will be making her Bellator debut against Mandy Bohm (6-0, 1 NC) at Bellator 243. The event will take place at the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California, on May 29. No other bouts have been announced for the event.

Carmouche left the Ultimate Fighting Championship following a lackluster championship defeat to Valentina Shevchenko at UFC Fight Night 156 in 2019. Across their 25-minute encounter, Carmouche landed an unprecedented 18 significant strikes, and the UFC was so disappointed with her performance that she was released while doing media obligations with the company. Bellator signed the WMMA pioneer and two-time UFC title challenger two weeks later.

The unbeaten Bohm sports a perfectly balanced record with two wins by knockout, two more by submission and another two on the scorecards. Her MMA debut against Cinja Kiefer was later ruled a no-contest, but initially ended in favor of Kiefer via technical submission due to a triangle choke. Since that incident, Bohm won her next five on the German MMA Championship stage before moving to the Canadian TKO MMA promotion. A flyweight championship victory over Jade Masson-Wong in May 2019 gave Bohm the push she needed to sign with Bellator, and she will also be making her debut with the promotion at this event.