Scott Coker Doesn’t Know Who Is Next For Ilima-Lei Macfarlane

MMA

Bellator MMA Women’s Flyweight Champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane successfully defended the gold against Kate Jackson in the main event of Bellator 236.

The champion believes Juliana Velasquez may be next for her, but Bellator MMA President Scott Coker isn’t so sure.

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“Honestly, Juliana Velasquez is definitely somebody that has some potential,” Coker said after the event (via Mike Bohn & Matt Erickson of MMA Junkie). “To me, if she would’ve come in there and had a knockout or a stoppage or went in there and dominated – she had a dominant performance – but when you’re in fights like that, you should finish, too. It’s kind of like: We’ll see.”

Velasquez was also in action at Bellator 236, defeating Bruna Ellen by way of unanimous decision.

Rumors have started swirling that a women’s flyweight world grand prix could be coming up and Coker says that it's starting to look more attractive to him.

“We’ll go back to the drawing board and we’re not committing to the tournament yet,” Coker said. “It’s looking a little more attractive to me every time I speak to my team and think about it myself because we have so many potential stars in this weight class. I think it would be a very interesting tournament and that could change the entire landscape of who fights who. It’s nice to see a division that has so much depth like our 125 female division.”

Macfarlane also wanted the promotion to create a women’s bantamweight division, as there are only two weight classes in Bellator for the women to compete at right now.

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