Ex-Bellator champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane says knee surgery forced her from Kana Watanabe fight
UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Ilima-Lei Macfarlane was intent on rebounding from the first loss of her career, but was forced to withdraw from a recently scheduled bout.
The former Bellator women’s flyweight champion revealed she was booked to face Kana Watanabe a couple of weeks ago, but after noticing an issue with her knee, she opted to undergo surgery to get a lingering injury fixed.
“I actually just got surgery last week on my knee and it was just time,” Macfarlane told MMA Junkie at Bellator 262 in Connecticut, where she’ll be an analyst on Friday’s broadcast. “It was time to get it fixed, and I’m happy that now I get to focus on my recovery and also focus on things that I haven’t been able to do training full time. So I’m really happy to be back here, and I’m going to be behind the desk for this card – so blessing in disguise.”
Macfarlane (11-1 MMA, 10-1 BMMA) says she hurt her knee in her title fight loss to Juliana Velasquez at Bellator 254 this past December, but was able to power through the fight.
“I’ve always had a bum knee, ever since high school is when I got my first surgery on it,” Macfarlane said. “So bum knee, but learned how to work around it. But this last fight, I did tweak it, and I could feel it. I think I was throwing a kick, but I could just feel something give, and my adrenaline is going. I was still able to push through and finish the fight. After the fight, I was just like, ‘OK, I’ll just rest it and rehab it, PT it, and I’ll be fine.’
“I was actually supposed to fight against Kana Watanabe a few weeks ago, and I had signed the bout agreement. I was in camp, I was feeling good and my knee just started deteriorating, like very rapidly. So that’s when I knew it was time for me to go get an MRI, which I’ve been avoiding because I didn’t want to face the music. I didn’t want to know the truth. But I’m glad I did it. It’s just time to fix it once and for all and to go from there.”
While Macfarlane aims to regain her throne, she thinks rebooking the Watanabe (10-1-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) fight makes sense and then she can perhaps face the winner of Friday’s main event between champion Velasquez and Denise Kielholtz.
“A tune-up fight would be good, especially now after getting surgery and rehabbing it. I would really like a tune-up fight, and I think Kana is still a fight that I really want. We’re both coming off of losses, and it was just the fight that was supposed to happen that didn’t. So I think that would be a really cool fight.”
Ex-Bellator champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane says knee surgery forced her from Kana Watanabe fight
