Ilima-Lei Macfarlane thinks Juliana Velasquez should be next – but Scott Coker not sold

HONOLULU – Despite five consecutive wins in the Bellator flyweight division, Juliana Velasquez might not be the next to challenge Ilima-Lei Macfarlane for the title after Bellator 236.

According to Bellator president Scott Coker, the next contender for Macfarlane (11-0 MMA, 10-0 BMMA) is contingent on whether the organization opts to move forward with plans of a flyweight grand prix in 2020.

Macfarlane defended her title against Kate Jackson by unanimous decision in Saturday’s headliner in Hawaii, a result which came just minutes after Velasquez (10-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) battered Bruna Ellen for three rounds. Macfarlane said post-fight the Brazilian should “100 percent” be her next challenger, but Coker wasn’t convinced.

“Honestly, Juliana Velasquez is definitely somebody that has some potential,” Coker told reporters, including MMA Junkie, post-fight at Bellator 236. “To me, if she would’ve come in there and had a knockout or a stoppage or went in there and dominated – she had a dominant performance – but when you’re in fights like that, you should finish, too. It’s kind of like: We’ll see.”

Coker said he’s not trying to take away from Velasquez’s talents. However, he said he saw more out of Alejandra Lara the night prior at Bellator 235. Lara, who missed weight for her bout with Vera Arteaga, got a bloody unanimous decision win.

“Velasquez is a killer,” Coker said. “She’s a great fighter and she’s going to earn her shot here eventually, or maybe next. We’ll see. But, the thing that I liked about Lara was, it was something that Veta said to me, she said, ‘This girl got better. She surprised me. I knew she was going to try to take me down and grapple with me and she didn’t and started trading with me and surprised me and caught me off guard.’ That’s a fighter that is getting better and better. That’s another amazing 125-pound fighter we could put in this event if we do it.”

Ultimately the next move for Macfarlane is going to come down to Bellator’s big-picture plans for 2020. If an eight or 16-fighter tournament comes to fruition, history indicates the promotion would try to sprinkle the best fighters into various corners of the bracket.

Coker said no firm plans are in place as of yet, but he thinks there’s some real intrigue with a grand prix at flyweight.

“We’ll go back to the drawing board and we’re not committing to the tournament yet,” Coker said. “It’s looking a little more attractive to me every time I speak to my team and think about it myself because we have so many potential stars in this weight class. I think it would be a very interesting tournament and that could change the entire landscape of who fights who. It’s nice to see a division that has so much depth like our 125 female division.”