HONOLULU – Ilima-Lei Macfarlane thought she knew exactly how she wanted to end her career. She wanted a flyweight title fight against her friend and former training partner, Liz Carmouche, and that’s what she called for inside the cage after her hard-fought unanimous decision win over Kana Watanabe on Saturday at Bellator 295.
Then Macfarlane (13-2 MMA, 12-2 BMMA) was asked about a possible Bellator flyweight grand prix during her post-fight news conference and with some time to think things through, her mind changed.
“Yeah, Uncle Scott, we want to do a frickin’ grand prix,” Macfarlane told MMA Junkie and other reporters, addressing Bellator president Scott Coker. “Now that you guys are done with the bantamweight (grand prix) – congrats, Patchy – let’s do it. We haven’t done a women’s grand prix in any division, and I think it just makes sense that the flyweight division is the way to go. I’ve been calling for one since 2019, I think. Yeah, I think that would be super cool.”
