Ilima-Lei Macfarlane Wants To Take Scholarship Winners To Bellator 201

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane spoke about her scholarship and her desire to take the five winners to Bellator 201. Here are highlights:

On bringing the winners to Bellator 201: “I wanted to create the scholarship for these girls to see outside of the world that they know and give them a voice and give them a chance to fight back. I think that it’s important to be able to use my platform to speak out about things that I feel passionately about.”

On giving native more opportunities: “I think it’s really important for other natives to know their culture and know their roots and keep their identity strong.”

On the application process: “I’m in the middle of a weight cut, and I did not want to look through a bunch of applicants and have to choose. But once I did it, I was in tears with a lot of their stories. I’m really excited for this fight to be over so I can go meet these young ladies and spend time with them.”