Liz Carmouche may have let her hair down, but her guard is still up.

The mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, 42, explained her decision to shave her hair off in real time in order to make the 125 lb. weight limit ahead of her Professional Fighters League (PFL) flyweight world title fight against Jena Bishop at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago on Friday, Oct. 16.

Carmouche, who has previously fought in the UFC and Bellator, noted that it was hard for her to lose weight due to her increasing bone density. While she would have sat comfortably in the 135 lb. weight class, she knew she would perform better at 125 lb.

“My bone density keeps increasing, therefore my weight keeps increasing and I can keep reducing calories but that’s not going to change the build of my body,” she told Uncrowned, reported the BBC. “So 135 lbs. makes the most sense, but the performance I have at 125 lbs. makes it really hard to want to go up a weight class.”

Carmouche’s hair has been at various lengths over the course of her fighting career, which began in 2010 after leaving the U.S. Marine Corps the year prior. She’s worn it shoulder-length, styled it into slick ponytails and elaborate braids and rocked a shorter shag in recent weeks.

Right before the weigh-in, Carmouche went under the scissors. The haircut was documented on her Instagram in collaboration with the PFL. When the MMA star stepped on the scale and the announcer confirmed she was 125 lbs., she shook the stray hair clippings off her head with her hands.

“That was close,” someone from her team could be heard saying in the video.

Carmouche further explained her decision to cut her hair on the spot, right before the weigh-in.

“Every 125 lb. weight cut sucks. It’s always hell, no matter what it is. This was far closer than I like it to be,” she said. “The hair was not the option that I thought was on the table for how I was going to lose that last little bit, but I had a minute left to weigh in or the fight was going to get dropped.”

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“I wasn’t sweating anymore. I tried spitting, but I had no saliva. I was just scraping saliva off my tongue,” she added. “Tried peeing, but there was no pee. The sports bra and underwear we found out were .2 [pounds], so I was officially .4 [pounds] over unless I was weighing in naked, which I was doing.”

“And the only thing left, though I know it was kind of thrown out as a joke, was to do the hair,” she said. “I was like, ‘Hey this might. Let’s do it,’ because I was trying everything. And that’s how we got here.”

Carmouche, known by her “Girl-Rilla” nickname, has won major world championships and tournaments in both Bellator MMA and PFL, alongside a 26-8 career record. She won the 2025 PFL tournament crown.

Bishop, 40, meanwhile, came in just under the 125 lb. limit. She is an American women’s flyweight and one of the most credentialed grapplers competing in the division with an 11-3 career record.

Bishop and Carmouche will face off as part of PFL Chicago’s main card, which begins at 11 p.m. ET on ESPN2.