Ilima MacFarlane Isn’t A Fan Of Anastasia Yankova’s Hype

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Ilima MacFarlane (6-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) spoke about a possible fight with Anastasia Yankova (5-0 MMA, 3-0 BMMA), who she believes is getting way too much hype. Here are highlights:

On if the fight will happen: “Obviously the Anastasia fight is one that I’ve always wanted, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen anymore because she hasn’t proven she can make weight. Our records are pretty much identical, so I thought that would make sense, but again, the whole weight issue might deter that.”

On Yankova’s hype: “I was actually frustrated more with Anastasia because I think there are other women in the division who deserve more recognition than she does. All the girls in flyweight have kind of banded together on social media like, ‘What the (expletive)?’ I do my job, I get in there and do my job, and I feel like I already get enough attention and I back it up. I just think the Anastasia hype train – I think that’s bull(expletive), honestly. I think there are other girls in the division that are way tougher than her and go do their job, and they act like professionals. They deserve to be built up and get the recognition over her.”

On getting rid of the image she had early in her career: “Before I would get a little embarrassed or hurt about it, but I think now that I’ve proven to people that I’m not a joke; I’m fine with it. Sometimes people don’t even know that was me. As far as the overall goal to kind of shed that image, I think it’s been successful. But it doesn’t bother me when people bring it up.”