Veta Arteaga challenged Ilima-Lei Macfarlane for the Bellator Women’s Flyweight Title at Bellator 220, suffering a third round TKO loss after the doctor stopped the bout due to a large gash on Arteaga’s forehead.
A defeated Arteaga says her world paused when the doctor wouldn’t let the championship bout continue.
“When the doctor came in, he just said, ‘You can cover it up, but the blood is going to keep dripping in her eyes,’” Arteaga told MMA Junkie. “I said, ‘I can see. I don’t feel the blood as like a distraction.’ But then he looked at me. ‘It’s just way too deep.’ And I was like, ‘Crap.’ At that moment, I felt like the world paused. It was just a moment of shock, like ‘this is not happening.’ That wasn’t the way this was supposed to turn out.”
Arteaga was ahead on one judge’s scorecard according to MMA Junkie before the fight was stopped, with the other two judges have their scorecards even.
The fighter has seemingly accepted the defeat and is ready to move onto what is next for her professional MMA career.
“The other day I woke up, and I was like, ‘You know what? It happened. Oh well, I just have to focus on what I want to do for the next fight.'” Arteaga said. “And how I want to perform on the next fight – whether it’s with Ilima or not. It doesn’t stop me from still being hungry and motivated. It doesn’t hold me back from the goal and the plan. So that’s an exciting part, feeling that I still have that drive, that I still want to be up there at the top and achieve my goals.”
Macfarlane has expressed interest in another fight with Arteaga, but nothing has been made official at this time.
