Next month, one of Bellator’s most popular champions will headline in front of her home fans once again.
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (10-0 MMA, 9-0 BMMA) will put her women’s flyweight title on the line against British challenger Kate Jackson (11-3-1 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) in the Bellator 236 main event, which takes place in Honolulu in Macfarlane’s native Hawaii.
The 29-year-old Macfarlane has won four straight title fights, all by stoppage. She won Bellator’s inaugural 125-pound women’s belt in November 2017 with a submission of Emily Ducote. After that, she submitted Alejandra Lara and Valerie Letourneau in 2018 title defenses, then stopped Veta Arteaga with a doctor’s stoppage TKO in April.
But perhaps the most thrilling of those title defenses came nearly a year ago when Macfarlane got to fight at home for the first time. At Bellator 213 in Honolulu, she fought former UFC title challenger Letourneau and electrified the fans with a third-round submission.
In a few weeks at Bellator 236 at the same Neal S. Blaisdell Center, Macfarlane will try to stay perfect, and go 2 for 2 in Hawaii, when she takes on Jackson. But ahead of that title fight, check out the first time Macfarlane fought in Honolulu in the video above.
