Ilima-Lei Macfarlane is currently undefeated as a professional MMA fighter at 6-0-0, with five of those wins coming in Bellator MMA.
The female fighting star is in the same division as the highly touted Anastasia Yankova and Macfarlane is tired of the hype surrounding the Russian fighter.
“I was actually frustrated more with Anastasia because I think there are other women in the division who deserve more recognition than she does,” Macfarlane said to MMA Junkie. “All the girls in flyweight have kind of banded together on social media like, ‘What the (expletive)?’ I do my job, I get in there and do my job, and I feel like I already get enough attention and I back it up. I just think the Anastasia hype train – I think that’s bull(expletive), honestly. I think there are other girls in the division that are way tougher than her and go do their job, and they act like professionals. They deserve to be built up and get the recognition over her.”
Despite being in the same division, the two fighters have yet to meet inside of the Bellator MMA cage.
Macfarlane believes the reason they may never meet inside the cage is because Yankova has had issues making weight in the past.
“Obviously the Anastasia fight is one that I’ve always wanted, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen anymore because she hasn’t proven she can make weight,” Macfarlane said. “Our records are pretty much identical, so I thought that would make sense, but again, the whole weight issue might deter that.”
Bellator MMA will be crowning a women’s flyweight champion by the end of 2017, with Macfarlane and Yankova being two of six undefeated fighters in the division.
