Former Bellator flyweight champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane’s potential fight against Liz Carmouche, which Macfarlane has called her ideal retirement bout, may happen this year, but Bellator President Scott Coker is unsure whether the fight can take place in Macfarlane’s home state of Hawaii.
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane may get her dream fight after all. The former Bellator flyweight champion won a narrow split decision against Kana Watanabe this past Saturday in Honolulu, and then called for a fight with close friend and longtime training partner Liz Carmouche. Macfarlane, who holds the Bellator record for the most defenses of the 125-pound title, has won two straight fights while Carmouche successfully defended her title the night before. This isn’t the first time Macfarlane has respectfully called out Carmouche, referring to her as her “sister wife” and describing it as her ideal retirement bout.
Bellator President Scott Coker, who spoke to the media after Bellator 295, said the matchup is likely but isn’t sure whether Macfarlane will get that dream fight in her home state of Hawaii. “I think the first step is for her to fight Liz Carmouche,” Coker said. “That’s top priority. By winning this fight against Watanabe, who was extremely competitive, skilled, a lot of folks thought it could have went either way, and it was a tough fight. But getting the decision puts her right in the sights of Liz and we’ve got to do that fight.
Coker expressed the desire to have Macfarlane’s last fight in Hawaii, but is unsure whether it can happen this year due to scheduling constraints. “We’ve got to talk to her about it, but sometimes geographical locations are tough,” Coker said. “We have a business to operate as well and we’re a fight company that has to continue to throw fights, so if we can’t get the Stan Sheriff Center and you can’t come here you’re kind of like, what are you going to wait another two or three years? It’s something that we’ll have a dialogue. We have a good relationship with these athletes and we’re going to have a conversation. We’ll do our best to accommodate her, that’s what I’d say.”
Regardless of the fight’s location, Coker is thrilled with Bellator’s regular trips to Hawaii, which typically include back-to-back fight nights on Friday and Saturday. He’d love to visit “The Aloha State” more frequently, but mentioned that much of his 2023 calendar is already set or in the works. “Traditionally, we’ve done one event a year in Hawaii,” Coker said. “The two events, the military event and first responders event, and then we’ve done the fight on Saturday night for the general public. That’s kind of been our business cycle once a year. But listen, you don’t have to ask me or my staff to come back to Hawaii, you don’t have to ask us twice. Believe me, it would be fun, it would be great, my staff loves it, everybody loves it here.”