Even if she vanquishes another challenger and clears out her weight class, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane can still see fresh opportunities on the horizon.
Macfarlane has firmly established herself as the queen of Bellator’s flyweight division and one of the faces of the promotion. On Thursday at Bellator 254 she looks for title defense No. 5 against fellow unbeaten fighter Juliana Velasquez. A win over Velasquez would leave Macfarlane with few options for her next fight at 125 pounds, which is one reason why she’s had her eye on moving up in weight should that become an option.