Jena Bishop, 40, upset Liz Carmouche by unanimous decision Friday to claim the PFL women's flyweight title — a fight streamed on Disney-owned ESPN+ as corporate media continues to market cage fighting as the new face of female empowerment.
The stakes for ordinary Americans aren't who won the belt. The stakes are what corporate entertainment keeps selling: a vision of womanhood built on blood and chokes, while traditional femininity and motherhood get treated as backward. Two women past 40 trading rear-naked choke attempts on a Friday night isn't empowerment — it's a spectacle, and Disney is happy to profit from it.
MMA Junkie and MMA Fighting both reported the basic facts: Bishop (12-3) survived a near-finish from Carmouche in Round 1, then used her jiu-jitsu to grind out a decision (48-47 across all three cards) at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. The fight turned in Round 5 when Carmouche, who MMA Fighting noted is 42 years old, got reckless on the feet and surrendered a takedown. Bishop spent the final minutes on Carmouche's back hunting submissions.
The outlets diverged on framing. MMA Fighting called it "revenge" — Carmouche knocked out Bishop last year — and emphasized that the weight cut had "really hurt Carmouche," who "faded badly" by the third round. MMA Junkie was more neutral on the gas tank, simply noting the fight "became more even" in Round 2 and that both women were tired by Round 4. MMA Fighting also editorialized that "the judges got it right" — a conclusion MMA Junkie left to the reader.
Neither outlet mentioned the broader cultural picture. Disney's ESPN+ paid to put this in front of millions of subscribers. The same corporate ecosystem that lectures Americans on gender ideology and celebrates androgynous role models also wants you cheering as two middle-aged women try to strangle each other unconscious. The message is consistent: anything but traditional womanhood.
After the decision, PFL star Dakota Ditcheva entered the cage for a faceoff. Ditcheva, 28, holds a 16-0 record and knocked Bishop out in the first round when they met in August 2024. MMA Junkie reported Ditcheva has received medical clearance and will challenge for the title in early 2027. The league is already building its next violent showcase.
The open question: how long will American families keep subsidizing a corporate entertainment machine that profits from distorting what it means to be a woman — and calls it progress?
