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Ilima-Lei Macfarlane struggled with the scale ahead of a pivotal bout.
At Thursday’s official weigh-ins for Bellator 284, the former flyweight champion weighed in at 129 pounds, three pounds over the limit for her fight with Bruna Ellen, which takes place Friday at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. This is the first weight miss of Macfarlane’s career, which included a run as Bellator’s 125-pound champion from 2017-2020.
The main card bout will proceed at a catchweight with Macfarlane forfeiting a percentage of her purse as penalty, officials told MMA Fighting’s Steven Marrocco in a statement:
“Fighters that missed weight will all have to pay a standard percentage that’s undisclosed to the fighter that made weight.”
Welterweight headliners Neiman Gracie and Goiti Yamauchi successfully made weight, with Gracie coming in at 170.4 pounds and Yamauchi at 170.
Macfarlane was not the only flyweight to come in heavy. Her most recent opponent, Justine Kish, also missed weight, tipping the scales at 128.4 pounds, 2.4 pounds over the limit for her bout with DeAnna Bennett. The Kish vs. Bennett bout will proceed at a catchweight with Kish also forfeiting an undisclosed percentage of her purse.
One other fighter missed weight, lightweight Nick Perez (157.4). Bellator announced that his bout with Isaiah Hokit has been cancelled.
Watch video of the ceremonial weigh-ins above, which begin at 7 p.m. ET.
See the Bellator 284 official weigh-in results below:
Main Card (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET)
Neiman Gracie (170.4) vs. Goiti Yamauchi (170)
Valentin Moldavsky (238.2) vs. Steve Mowry (249.8)
Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (129)* vs. Bruna Ellen (125.6)
Said Sowma (243.3) vs. Gokhan Saricam (248.2)
Austin Vanderford (184.4) vs. Aaron Jeffery (185)
Preliminaries (MMA Fighting, 6 p.m. ET)
Josh Hill (135.8) vs. Marcos Breno (136)
Deanna Bennett (125.2) vs. Justine Kish (128.4)**
Sullivan Cauley (205.4) vs. Tyson Jeffries (201.8)
Pat Downey (186) vs. Keyes Nelson (183.6)
Isaiah Hokit (154) vs. Nick Perez (157.4)*** — cancelled
Bailey Schoenfelder (227.8) vs. Mark Currier (260.6)
Mitchell McKee (135) vs. Tony Ortega (134.6)
Brett Bye (173.8) vs. M,A,Yah II (174.4) — 175-pound catchweight bout
*Macfarlane missed weight. Her bout with Bruna Ellen will proceed at a catchweight with Macfarlane forfeiting an undisclosed percentage of her purse as penalty
**Kish missed weight. Her bout with Deanna Bennett will proceed at a catchweight with Kish forfeiting an undisclosed percentage of her purse as penalty
***Isaiah Hokit’s bout against Nick Perez has been cancelled due to Perez missing the lightweight limit