Championships and friendships don’t steadily combine in combined martial arts. The pursuit of glory has irreparably broken some relationships. Alternative instances, constancy perseveres in alternate for ignored alternatives. Liz Carmouche and Ilima-Lei Macfarlane are all set to fulfill at Bellator 300 on Saturday in a unprecedented example of 2 perfect pals raising each and every alternative en path to an international identify tussle.

Carmouche defends her Bellator girls’s flyweight championship in opposition to former champion Macfarlane in San Diego. It’s a tussle each girls have campaigned for in spite of years of friendship and coaching in combination.

“This is a day that we knew, just coming up and training together all the time, was inevitable,” Carmouche instructed CBS Sports activities. “I feel like part of the reason why Bellator signed me is the storyline. So we certainly knew it was going to happen. I like the idea of submitting her gently and putting her to sleep — no harm, no foul — we can both smile afterwards rather than coming out battered and beaten. But knowing the two of us, we’re going to come out battered and beaten.

“Either one of us sought after not anything however luck for each and every alternative… If we’re in the similar group, it’s inevitable that we’re going to stand each and every alternative.”

Take a look at the overall interview with Liz Carmouche under.

The tussle is so remarkably particular to Macfarlane that she pondered retiring afterwards. The Hawaiian instructed CBS Sports activities she’s made up our minds to proceed her occupation then Bellator 300. No longer each and every courting can climate this type of high-stakes state of affairs. Jon Jones and Rashad Evans had a crowd falling out over the UFC sunny heavyweight championship. Merab Dvalishvili’s need to recess his personal identify ambitions in aid of Aljamain Sterling has soured him to UFC matchmakers. Carmouche and Macfarlane are distinctive in that they’ve each already received an international identify. Their earlier luck takes a accumulation of power off the tussle.

“She’s like my big sister,” Macfarlane mentioned. “I think what also helps is that I have tasted victory. It’s not like everything is on the line in this fight. The world will go on regardless of who wins or loses. We’ve both reached gold. We’ve tasted gold. We’ve reached the top. My biggest hope is we emerge from this fight injury-free and healthy and that we don’t actually hurt each other.”

Take a look at the overall interview with Ilima-Lei Macfarlane under.

It doesn’t harm that Carmouche had a name for sparring in particular crispy.

“Well, Liz would beat the shit out of me anyway in practice,” Macfarlane mentioned with a chortle.

Carmouche moved camps about two years in the past in preparation for an eventual showdown in opposition to Macfarlane. Combatants are via nature ultra-competitive. A bruised egotism on occasion takes longer to heal than bodily accidents. Each girls are conscious of awkward tensions then the tussle, however that didn’t block Macfarlane from inviting Carmouche to her post-fight taco birthday celebration.

“I imagine whoever wins is going to bring the belt to the party,” Macfarlane mentioned. “I always compare it to the movie ‘Love and Basketball.’ There is a scene where she plays her former college teammate professionally in Spain and they go out and have dinner afterwards. The girl is like, ‘Bitch, can you please take your trophy off the table?’ And she’s like, ‘Oh, excuse me while I take my championship trophy off to make room.’ But they’re friends. So I imagine it would be similar to that. Whoever wins has bragging rights.”

“It’ll still be weird,” Carmouche mentioned. “But we’ve actually hurt each other in training sessions. We still had to see each other the next day or we’re still going to hang out knowing that that black eye on their face is from you. So we have that benefit going into this. I think that for both of us we want success. We want what’s best for each other’s future. We can bring that knowing that we can offer a great show for the fans.”

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