Scott Coker says Bellator considering women’s flyweight Grand Prix tournament including Ilima-Lei Macfarlane

Bellator president Scott Coker says the promotion is considering a women’s flyweight Grand Prix tournament including its star champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane.

Macfarlane defended her title once again with a unanimous decision win over Kate Jackson in the main event of Bellator Hawaii. Coker was asked by the media during the post-event scrum who is next for Macfarlane to fight, and his answer was very interesting.

Instead of committing to a top contender like Juliana Velasquez or Alejandra Lara getting the next title shot, Coker said Bellator could instead hold a flyweight Grand Prix tournament.

Here’s what Coker said.

“We’re not committing to the tournament yet, but 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 whole landscape of who fights who. It’s nice to see a division that has so much depth like our 125lbs flyweight division,” Coker said.

Coker said that if Bellator does hold a 125lbs tournament, the champ Macfarlane would fight in it just like Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Pitbull competed in the 145lbs tournament and former Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald competed in the 170lbs tournament.

“I always like (that) — you know we did it with Pitbull, he had to fight the fight — and then we’ll do the drawing, just like we did for the featherweights. And whoever is the champ will get to go and pick where they want to compete or which bracket, we’re going continue with that format. This thing could shake out in a couple of different ways. We still have to work out a lot of details,” Coker said.

Would you be interested in watching Scott Coker’s idea of a Bellator women’s flyweight Grand Prix tournament?