Ilara Joanne unveils hit list, which ends with Bellator champ Ilima-Lei Macfarlane

MMA News

Ilara Joanne unveils hit list, which ends with Bellator champ Ilima-Lei Macfarlane

There are two paths to garnering attention in the mixed martial arts world: You can impress with your performance in the cage, or you can use your words to turn people’s heads.

Ilara Joanne decided to get the best of both worlds and go with both on Friday night at Bellator 231.

The Pitbull Brothers-trained Brazilian flyweight made her Bellator debut with a bang. Going up against Bec Rawlings, who was hoping to use her Bare Knuckle FC success to jumpstart a stalled MMA career, Joanne dominated the fight before finishing things with a kneebar at 3:35 of the opening round at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

That was an impressive enough debut, but then Joanne, who had a “Game of Thrones” themed walkout and is nicknamed “Arya Stark,” busted out her gimmick: A “kill list” in the 125-pound division.

Stark crossed out Rawlings’ name, which left three more: Unbeaten young phenom Valerie Loureda, former UFC and Bellator title challenger Valerie Letourneau, and undisputed Bellator pound-for-pound women’s best, flyweight champ Ilimi-Lei Macfarlane.

We see a lot of cringe-inducing attempts at talking smack in MMA, but this one was pretty cool. And if Friday night was any indication, we wouldn’t be surprised if more names are eventually crossed off the list.

Check out Joanne’s full list below:

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

Ilara Joanne unveils hit list, which ends with Bellator champ Ilima-Lei Macfarlane