HONOLULU – Ilima-Lei Macfarlane thought she knew precisely how she wished to finish her profession. She wished a flyweight title struggle towards her pal and former coaching companion, Liz Carmouche, and that’s what she referred to as for contained in the cage after her hard-fought unanimous determination win over Kana Watanabe on Saturday at Bellator 295.
Then Macfarlane (13-2 MMA, 12-2 BMMA) was requested a few doable Bellator flyweight grand prix throughout her post-fight information convention and with a while to assume issues by means of, her thoughts modified.
“Yeah, Uncle Scott, we wish to do a frickin’ grand prix,” Macfarlane informed MMA Junkie and different reporters, addressing Bellator president Scott Coker. “Now that you just guys are carried out with the bantamweight (grand prix) – congrats, Patchy – let’s do it. We haven’t carried out a girls’s grand prix in any division, and I feel it simply is smart that the flyweight division is the best way to go. I’ve been calling for one since 2019, I feel. Yeah, I feel that will be tremendous cool.”
Macfarlane, who was the inaugural Bellator flyweight champ with 4 title defenses to her credit score, entered struggle week already speaking about retirement, particularly hoping that struggle may happen in Hawaii earlier than the yr ends.
Because it seems, that timeline is versatile if it means partaking in a grand prix.
“I might be down. 1,000,000 {dollars} is fairly candy,” mentioned Macfarlane, who received her second struggle in a row. “To be sincere, I’ve been desirous about retirement extra severely, as a result of I do wish to begin a household quickly. However one million {dollars} does sound fairly cool, so I can put child making on maintain for that. …
“I ought to’ve referred to as that out on the mic, however I used to be looking at Liz. So, let’s do a grand prix.”
It’s extra probably that Macfarlane will get her authentic want of a title struggle with Carmouche, which is what Coker mentioned he expects to occur. Macfarlane mentioned she feels good bodily popping out of her win over Watanabe.
So if that’s the case, she’d like that to occur ahead of later.
For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for Bellator 295.
