Tag: Bellator 236

HONOLULU — It’s become a sight as familiar as any at the highest level of mixed martial arts in recent years: [autotag]Ilima-Lei Macfarlane[/autotag] looking dominant in another title defense.

Fighting in front of another spirited hometown crowd on Saturday night, Macfarlane dominated a tough [autotag]Kate Jackson[/autotag] (11-4-1 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) for 25 minutes on Saturday night before earning a unanimous decision on scores of 50-45, 50-44, 50-44 in the main event of Bellator 236.

That marked the fourth successful flyweight title defense for Macfarlane. And in this day and age, when a champion comes this close to cleaning out their division, they started to entertain dreams of champ-champ status.

“I want to be champ-champ status, I want that champ-champ status, or I want that opportunity,” Macfarlane told MMA Junkie backstage at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena. “So I’m saying it now, I want a bantamweight division.”

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Granted, that was one of two major items on Macfarlane’s wish list. Bellator has found success with grand prix tournaments, and Macfarlane wants a women’s tourney. Friday, Bellator president Scott Coker said that with the addition of Macfarlane’s close friend and gym mate, Liz Carmouche, a flyweight tournament is on the company’s agenda.

And while the teammates would have to sort through who from their San Diego camp would be which fighter’s corner, Macfarlane believes she’s speak for both herself and Carmouche about the possibility of meeting in a tournament matchup.

“We are totally prepared to fight each other,” Macfarlane said. “Obviously we would want to be on the other side of the bracket. But yeah, I am so down for a tournament. When I heard that Scott announced (a tournament), I’m like, oh great, I don’t have to call it out on the mic, because had I won the fight, I was going to call for either a tournament, or call for a bantamweight division.”

For his part, Coker doesn’t sound like he’s in a rush to institute a new women’s weight class, noting that it’s not a matter of Macfarlane making the weight.

“I don’t think she had that hard of a time to get to ’25,” Coker told reporters, including MMA Junkie, after Bellator 236. “I’ll have to talk to her, but when these fighters are in their camps and they’re kind of doing their thing – I kind of stay away. But we’ll talk to her. But to me, we have a 125-pound weight class. She looked great in there, she didn’t gas. It’s not like she cuts so much weight she gassed out there.

“She was in a tough match for five rounds and she handled it, so to me, we’d like her to stay there. If it was really something that she had to do, we would consider it.”

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[autotag]Ilima-Lei Macfarlane[/autotag] is well on her way to being a real star in the world of mixed martial arts, but she’s already a superstar in her home state of Hawaii.

The Bellator flyweight champion hammered this point home again on Saturday night, as she put on another spectacular performance in front of an adoring crowd at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu.

Macfarlane (11-0 MMA, 10-0 BMMA) never quite got the submission she was looking for, but otherwise dominated her fight against a tough [autotag]Kate Jackson[/autotag]. The judges’ scores were 50-45, 50-44, and 50-44 for the champion.

It was Macfarlane’s fourth successful defense of her 125-pound belt.

“How could I not come in here and represent for everybody?” Macfarlane told her Honolulu fans. “I hope I made you all proud.”

After electrifying the crowd with a spectacular arena entrance, Macfarlane maintained the energy in the opening round. She immediately got underhooks, pushed Jackson (11-4-1 MMA, 3-2 BMMA) against the cage, and worked her way to a trip. She spent much of the round hunting for a submission, but never quite got it.

England’s Jackson, for her part, proved to be plenty tough. While she never came close to seriously threatening the champ, she landed enough offense in the standup to keep her honest and was tenacious in her ground defense. This was obvious again toward the end of the second, when Macfarlane went for a head-and-arm choke, but Jackson fended it off.

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The third was more of the same, as Macfarlane landed a nasty straight right to the face, closed the distance, and again went to work on the ground. In the fourth, Macfarlane scored the takedown early, then late, in a thrilling exchange, she went for an armbar, but Jackson fought it for all she was worth until the bell rang to end the round.

It all seemed academic as the bout reached the latter stages. Jackson seemed to know she was going to need a finish in Round 5, but Macfarlane was ready. The fight ended with Macfarlane unleashing a hellacious ground-and-pound assault as Jackson held on until the final bell.

“Man, I know that Kate Jackson is a submission defense specialist, she’s super hard to finish, she showed it,” Macfarlane said. “Props to Kate Jackson man, that was so much fun.”

The flyweight title bout was the Bellator 236 main event. The main card streamed on DAZN following prelims on MMA Junkie.

Up-to-the-minute Bellator 236 results include:

• Ilima-Lei Macfarlane def. Kate Jackson via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-44, 50-44)
• A.J. McKee def. Derek Campos via submission (armbar) – Round 3, 1:08
• Jason Jackson def. Kiichi Kunimoto via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Juliana Velasquez def. Bruna Ellen via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 20-26)
• Raufeon Stots def. Cheyden Leiloha via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
• Zach Zane def. Nainoa Dung via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Swayne Lunasco def. Kaylan Gorospe via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 3:29
• Ben Wilhelm def. Kealii Kanekoa via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:24
• Dustin Barca def. Brandon Pieper via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 0:58
• Kai Kamaka III def. Spencer Higa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Keoni Diggs def. Scotty Hao via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:23

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