Ilima-Lei MacFarlane, if she's known for anything so far, is known for the 10-second knockout of "Soccer Mom" Katie Castro. When the video went viral last summer, it was the apparent lopsided nature of the fight that made it remarkable, rather than MacFarlane's talent.
Now, days before her second fight for Bellator and despite taking a split-decision win over Maria Rios in her first, MacFarlane still feels underestimated. She's ready to show it's her talent she deserves to be known for.
MacFarlane is probably right that people are skeptical of her ability. This will be only her third professional fight, and it's for one of the biggest promotions in the country. "I fought for Xplode [Fight Series], which doesn't have the best reputation in the world...I haven't had crazy fights against real household names or big opponents," she says.
None of which is an indication of the native Hawaiian's potential. "I just want to have a good, solid performance. And just prove to people that I am a solid fighter."
Most people have only seen a fraction of MacFarlane's game. In her Bellator debut, she stayed mostly on her feet, and of course, she's known for punching out Castro.
Consequently, she and her coaches think her opponent for Bellator 148, Amber Tackett, may try to take her down early. MacFarlane, who wrestled in high school, says she focused on grappling when she first joined her gym, the San Diego Combat Academy. Three of her five amateur wins came by way of submission. She feels confident with whatever might happen.
Tackett, however, is a mystery. She has two professional fights listed on her record; the first was a loss in 2008, the second a win from last October. From the little they've seen, MacFarlane's camp is not certain of much and can only guess at the rest. "We think that she's a striker. We know she's a southpaw, and otherwise, we have no idea if she has a ground game. She looks very physically strong, too."
When training for a fight, some fighters focus exclusively on their own game, and some tailor their approach to their opponent. Because of the dearth of information on Tackett, MacFarlane doesn't really get to choose. Her game plan is, no matter what happens, to be the smarter fighter.
"Don't lose my head if she does clock me or something, don't get all crazy and try to brawl with her. Stick to my technique, stick to what we've been working on in my camp, and don't just try to go out and scrap."
That composure may come from MacFarlane's primary goal in Bellator. "Right now my goal is to finish my fights with them. Just have a solid performance...of course I would always want to win. But you know, it doesn't even matter if it's a win or a loss."
That's not something you usually hear from an MMA fighter, but MacFarlane is a rare breed in the sport. "I'm a very non-confrontational person, and I don't really enjoy inflicting pain on people," she said. "I always feel really bad. I don't like to look into somebody's eyes as I'm punching them."
It would seem a strange sport for someone who doesn't like hurting people to undertake. So how did MacFarlane, who has a bachelor's degree in Cultural Anthropology and a master's in Liberal Arts and Sciences, end up doing it professionally? After gaining the "freshman 50"—not a typo—MacFarlane told her boyfriend at the time that she wanted a gym membership as a graduation present.
That's how she ended up at the "little, podunk gym in a warehouse" she would pass on the way to work every day and ultimately on Team Hurricane Awesome. After focusing on grappling initially, she branched into boxing and MMA classes . Her first exposure to MMA was, in fact, at an XFS event, where she said she immediately "loved the rawness of it."
Then her coach convinced her to compete. MacFarlane made her debut at an XFS event in March 2014, submitting Stephanie Houser via rear-naked choke in the first round. Four of her five amateur fights and one of her professional fights were for XFS, a promotion plagued by a CSAC investigation last year and allegations of record padding.
Controversies aside, MacFarlane says she had "nothing but a positive experience at Xplode. They were always really, really kind and gracious to me." After racking up the wins and Bellator came calling, MacFarlane says, "they were so supportive of me...all of them were ecstatic. They're like, 'you're ready for the next level. Don't forget about us!'
"And I have nothing negative to say about [fighting for XFS] at all; they were always really good to me."
If she doesn't like hurting people, and winning isn't the most important thing to her, one wonders why she likes MMA at all.As it happens, it's the byproducts of victory that drive MacFarlane.
"I guess what I do really enjoy about MMA is being able to represent my family and Hawaii. And my gym, being able to represent my coaches and teammates and making them all proud. You always like to win...to get all of the glory and everything. But...making all of my friends and family proud is what I enjoy the most about it."
With her current undefeated record, MacFarlane has undoubtedly made her cheerleaders plenty proud.
For her Bellator debut, she had the good misfortune to be laid off from her restaurant job right before her camp started, allowing her to focus exclusively on training. That's not the case this time. "Once that fight was over, I was like, 'all right, well, I can't live off of a fighter's paycheck for too long,' so I went and got another restaurant job."
It's a three-story steakhouse, making her work as a server torturous. The prime rib is "super bomb," which is "...difficult, because whenever I go in, I always want to eat. So it gets difficult when I have to start weight-cutting. I ask for time off so that I'm not I'm not tempted with steaks all around me."
On the upside, walking several miles over the course of a shift makes it easy to maintain her pre-cut weight. If you want to see MacFarlane in action (outside the cage), she works at Hunter Steakhouse in San Diego. Don't be shy—as she said to me, "people can totally come in and visit!"
But first, watch her on the Bellator 148 prelims this Friday on Spike. She's determined to make it worth your while.
