Bellator champ Ilima-Lei Macfarlane says next title defense could be in a flyweight tournament

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane’s next fight could come in a different format than she’s used to.

Bellator women’s flyweight champion Macfarlane (11-0 MMA, 10-0 BMMA) already has successfully defended her title four times, most recently defeating Kate Jackson this past December at Bellator 236 in her home state of Hawaii.

And with Bellator president Scott Coker previously expressing interest in a potential women’s flyweight tournament, Macfarlane thinks her next title defense could wind up there sometime toward the end of the year.

“We said that I would probably fight in the fall, somewhere around there,” Macfarlane told MMA Junkie. “And there’s still talks about possibly doing a tournament for the flyweight division. So obviously my next fight depends on that, whether or not they go through with that. But we said that the timeline should be expected sometime around the fall or winter, which some people would consider as a long layoff – almost a year. But I’m cool with that.”

If Macfarlane does end up putting her title on the line in a tournament, she has an idea of a specific format she’d like things to play out in.

“I almost want to say that … only my fight should be five rounds,” Macfarlane said. “Because I don’t want those girls to like get the advantage of being able to fight five rounds (to prepare for me). So I’m thinking more from like a strategic point of view. … But I think I would prefer an eight-woman tournament, because that just means less fights to get that million dollars. I’m thinking of it more from a most efficient way possible to get a million dollars.”

The undefeated Hawaiian recently signed a multi-year, multi-fight contract extension with Bellator, a decision she said was a no-brainer.