(Editor’s note: This story published in Friday’s print edition of USA TODAY.)
HONOLULU – There are times when one of the most popular fighters on the Bellator roster forgets she’s a champion.
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane has been Bellator’s women’s flyweight titleholder a little more than two years now. On Saturday, Macfarlane seeks her fourth title defense when she headlines Bellator 236 in the city where she grew up against British challenger Kate Jackson.
“It’s still very surreal,” Macfarlane told USA TODAY Sports after a Wednesday workout in front of fans in Honolulu. “There are days I wake up, and I’m like, ‘OK, I’m going back to school.’ I don’t realize I’m a professional fighter – I’m the champion. I still have to pinch myself sometimes.”
Macfarlane (10-0 MMA, 9-0 BMMA) won the 125-pound title with a submission of Emily Ducote in November 2017. Her three successful title defenses all have been stoppages, as well. In April, she cut Veta Arteaga’s forehead so badly the cageside doctor stopped the fight in the third round.
She’s been one of Bellator’s most dominant champions, and with that comes some luxuries, including the fact she gets to defend her title in her native Hawaii for the second time. Bellator first came to the islands in 2018 for a doubleheader of events centered largely around Macfarlane as a homecoming. Based in Southern California, she hadn’t fought in her home state before that.
Now she’ll do it again, sandwiched around a title defense close to her training home in California. It’s a chance to represent her heritage, and not a duty she takes lightly.
“I feel as if I carry the islands on my shoulders whenever I’m on a platform like this,” Macfarlane said. “I’m OK with that. I welcome it now. My main goal is to defend my belt, but my other really big goal is to represent my culture and my home and my people to the best of my ability.”
Bellator president Scott Coker said the promotion essentially has been able to build its two trips to Hawaii around Macfarlane, which may bode well for future trips.
“Last year’s event in Honolulu was incredible, and we couldn’t wait to come back,” Coker said. “Ilima-Lei is a big part of this weekend, and the Hawaiian fans have really embraced her. She’s got another tough opponent on Saturday in Kate Jackson and can establish herself as one of the best female fighters in the world with a win.”
Jackson (11-3-1, 3-1) will try to become the first to solve the Macfarlane riddle. She’s also the first British woman to fight for a major MMA title.
Riding only a two-fight winning streak, the 33-year-old thought she was close to title contention after a first-round TKO against Lena Ovchynnikova in June. But the call to take on Macfarlane in hostile territory came a little out of the blue.
“Initially, I was more surprised than excited,” Jackson said. “I thought maybe I’d have one more fight before this (title shot). … But once it sunk in, I was definitely excited. I needed to let it sink in a bit. There was some talk of my last fight being a No. 1 contender fight, but I knew there were a couple of others in the mix. I thought maybe it would go to one of them first, and then I’d get the opportunity.”
Bellator 236 (DAZN, 10 p.m. ET) is the second of the promotion’s back-to-back events at Neal S. Blaisdell Center. Bellator 235 on Friday (Paramount/DAZN, 10 p.m. ET) is the promotion’s second year of a “Salute the Troops” event in conjunction with the USO and will be attended exclusively by military members from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu.
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane starting to embrace life as one of Bellator's most popular champs