Macfarlane headlines Bellator fight in Hawaii
Bellator women’s flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane proudly represents her native Hawaii in the cage. Soon, she’ll get her first chance to fight on home soil.
Bellator on Wednesday announced that Macfarlane, 28, will headline a Dec. 15 fight card in her Honolulu hometown, facing UFC veteran Valerie Letourneau at 8,000-seat Blaisdell Arena.
Also featured on the card is the return of former UFC champion Lyoto Machida, who will make his promotional debut after defecting to the Viacomowned promotion three months ago. He faces ex-middleweight champ Rafael Carvalho.
The Bellator event ends a 10-year dry spell without a major mixed martial arts show in Hawaii, which is home to UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn and current UFC featherweight champ Max Holloway. Once a hotbed in the sport’s no-holds barred days, major promoters abandoned the islands after cashing in on MMA’s popularity surge in the mid-2000s. The CBS-backed EliteXC held a single event in Oahu in 2008.
The UFC has long targeted a major event but pulled back on holding August’s UFC 227 at 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium after the Hawaii Tourism Authority balked at a $6 million sponsorship fee.
Bellator President Scott Coker previously shied away from holding an event because of the time difference and increased costs of production. With Macfarlane pushing for a homecoming and several other stars earmarked for the Dec. 15 card, Viacom agreed to fund it.
To drive local engagement, Coker also enlisted T.J. Thompson, who promoted many of Hawaii’s biggest MMA events with the now-defunct Superbrawl.
“Hawaii has been supporting MMA since the beginning,” Coker told USA TODAY. “If you look at the names that fought there, a lot of the fighters got their start fighting on the circuit. There’s been so much great martial arts that’s come through the islands. Martial arts is just part of the culture.”
Macfarlane, a graduate of Honolulu’s Punahou School, attempts the second defense of her title after submitting Alejandra Lara in June. She currently holds the record for consecutive wins, overall wins and finishes among the promotion’s active female fighters.
Letourneau comes into the fight on the strength of a two-fight winning streak. Letourneau defected from the UFC in 2017 after a six-fight stint with the industry leader. In 2015, she went the distance with now-former strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
When Coker confirmed the Dec. 15 date, he had Macfarlane and Letourneau sign bout agreements without a location. The surprise wasn’t lost on the champ, who is profusely thankful for the opportunity.
“I almost feel as if not only am I a pioneer to revitalize this MMA movement in Hawaii, but also for women, too, it’s crazy that I’m the headline fight,” Macfarlane told USA TODAY. “Which means it’s a women’s fight, on arguably one of the biggest cards of the year. I just think that’s incredible, that not only is it back home, but they’re having females headline it. So, yeah, I totally understand the gravity of everything and how important this event is going to be.”