Ilima-lei Macfarlane : Early Life, Career, Personal Life & Net Worth

A woman can be anything she wishes to be. And no work will lessen her femininity. For Ilima-lei Macfarlane, that quote has turned to reality.

Macfarlane is an American professional mixed martial artist who strives in Bellator MMA’s flyweight division at this moment. 

Furthermore, Ilima is the present Bellator Women’s Flyweight World Champion. She is also a native of Hawaii and was born in Honolulu.

This article will elaborate on Ilima-lei Macfarlane’s age, height, weight, biography,  and net worth. 

Before getting into details about the MMA fighter’s life and career, let’s first look at some quick facts.

Quick Facts

Ilima-lei Macfarlane | Age, Height, Body

Ilima is 34 years old as of 2021, calculating from her birth date as 1990, April 2. Furthermore, she stands at the height of ‎5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) and weighs about 125 lb (57 kg; 8.9 st).

Macfarlane’s height to weight ratio symbolizes her athletic figure. Besides that, she has built up core muscles with very little body fat.

As a fighter and a Brown belt in 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu, keeping the body intact and well-built is vital. Moreover, her current built is perfectly splendid for the goals she wants to reach.

The gorgeous and strong MMA fighter Ilima has lush brown hair and pleasing brown eyes. Likewise, she has an alluring smile and also nice teeth.

Learn More About MMA Fighter, Montana De La Rosa: MMA, Career, Family & Net Worth.

It is not only Ilima’s beauty that has attracted the whole audience towards her. Not to mention, she is equally talented, skilled and knows what she is doing inside the ring.

Some of her notable characteristics are being zealous, driven, and poised. On top of that, she is a front runner like a true Aries with her persistent willpower.

Ilima’s Chinese horoscope is the horse.

Ilima-lei Macfarlane | Early Life, Family, And Education

Macfarlane stepped on the earth on the 2nd of April 1990, in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Her father goes by the name Walter Macfarlane.

As the fighter was born to Americans, her nationality is American. Furthermore, she belongs to a white native Hawaiian ethnic group.

The exceptional fighter grew up in a loving and caring family. Correspondingly, her parents were very supportive of her. 

Besides that, she grew up and graduated from Punahou School in 2009 in Honolulu, Hawaii. After that, Ilima went on to learn Anthropology at San Diego State University.

Education

The flyweight division fighter graduated and got her Bachelors Degree in 2013 and decided to continue her studies. Moreover, the MMA fighter attended the SDSU to learn Master of Arts in Liberal Studies concentrating on indigenous subjects.

You Might Be Interested In Mexican Fighter, Irene Aldana Bio: MMA’s Journey, Love life, Career & Wiki.

Ilima occupied herself by playing basketball in her childhood. However, her ambitions in the game came to a stop due to a knee wound.

Although Macfarlane got a student grant for wrestling in Menlo College, she refused it. Before graduation, the athlete wanted to lose some extra pounds that she gained in the summer.

Hence, she joined a gym. To her luck, she joined Liz Carmouche‘s MMA gym and was introduced to the MMA world. 

As a result, her interests and curiosity towards mixed martial arts grew. So, she sustained the exercise at the San Diego Combat Academy.

Ilima-lei Macfarlane | Fighting Career

Xplode Fight Series

Ilima started her unprofessional MMA career in 2014. Moreover, she went undefeated as an amateur. This tough girl fought five times throughout that year, mostly in the Xplode Fight Series.

Furthermore, the athlete’s opening professional match was an unofficial match counter to Katie Castro. It was for Xplode Fight Series.

It just took ten seconds for Macfarlane to win via technical knockout.

After this unofficial match in the MMA, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) hurled an investigation into the establishment’s unauthorized MMA events.

The fight was such a hit that the match’s recording was forwarded on the internet several times. Many sources labeled the video “Soccer mom loses to MMA fighter.”

Likewise, the recording went viral, gathering over a million views on YouTube. It also conversed on a few television news networks. Besides that, Katie had a 0-2 top before battling with Ilima.

Don’t Forget To Check Out American Professional Boxer, Heather Hardy MMA, Boxing, Record, Age, Husband, Net Worth, Instagram.

Bellator MMA

Resulting from the session with Castro, Ilima contracted a three-fight agreement with Bellator MMA.

She fought her first fight in August 2015 at Bellator 141. In the game, MacFarlane overpowered Maria Rios by a split verdict.

After the opening victory, the athlete fought Amber Tackett at Bellator. Thereafter, Ilima won by armbar submission in the preliminary round.

In her next game, the fighter won again while battling against Rebecca Ruth. Similarly, Ilima accomplished by standing rear-naked choke in the subsequent round.

Macfarlane saw new heights of the victory. Subsequently, she never lost a match. The Hawaiian played against Emily Ducote, where she overpowered Ducote via a unanimous decision.

She also confronted Jessica Middleton and secured the winning position by armbar submission in the preliminary round.

Bellator Women’s Flyweight World Champion

Emily Ducote and Ilima had a second go at Bellator 186 to open Bellator Women’s Flyweight World Championship.

The tough Hawaiian won the session with an armbar discrepancy in the fifth round to win her major MMA championship.

After that, Ilima confronted Alejandra Lara for the initial defense of her flyweight title.

Ilima earned the title in the third round through armbar.

She tackled Valérie Létourneau in her hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii.

Macfarlane also secured her championship for a second time. She did this by beating Létourneau in the third round.

Similarly, the MMA champion had a tough battle with Veta Arteaga and Kate Jackson.

Also, check – Liz Carmouche: Age, Height, Military Life, Wife & Net worth.

She won the fight by TKO because of the doctor’s stoppage in the third round. And a unanimous decision to fight with kate.

Macfarlane announced that she signed a ten-fight, five-year extension lead agreement with Bellator.

For the undefeated fighter Ilima, the next match was with another undefeated fighter Juliana Velasquez in 2020.

Ilima-lei Macfarlane | Career Highlights And Honors

Ilima is the winner of combat jiu-jitsu. She is also the current flyweight champion of it and successfully defended four titles in Bellator MMA.

Macfarlane holds the record of the second-most wins by submission. That is solely in the history of Bellator MMA.

On top of that, she also holds a tie with Michael Chandler and Neiman Gracie. Likewise, she has the title of most wins amongst women and in the whole Bellator division history.

Ilima is the current Bellator Women’s Flyweight World Champion. Furthermore, MMAjunkie.com awarded Macfarlane with the title 2018 Breakthrough Fighter of the Year.

Ilima-lei Macfarlane | Contract, Net Worth and Earnings 

The existing undefeated MMA empress, Ilima-Lei, collected name, fame, and fortune through her professional mixed martial arts career.

She is contracted to Bellator MMA, which is presumed to be her main foundation of income.

So far, her career revealed earning is $85,000.

As of 2024, her precise figure of net worth and salary is under review. Nevertheless, the exceptional athlete is assumed to be from $100 thousand to $1 million. 

Ilima-lei Macfarlane | Personal Life, Husband, And Kids

Husband And Kids

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, 28, is currently engaged with her boyfriend, Jason Tupuola-Aiono. They were planning to get married in 2020 1^st of April.

Macfarlane and her husband-to-be were going to get wedded in Jamaica, a day with all the prominence of a national day off for the Bellator champ.

The promised duo was on a lengthy break in the titleholder’s hometown of San Diego, California.

However, a coronavirus epidemic carried life to a pause in cities around America. Hence, the notion of a massive matrimonial celebration didn’t seem so fun anymore.

Not to be confused with Tarsis Humphreys on her IG. Ilima wrote that he is her fake boyfriend, spirit guide, and training partner.

The athlete also shares several baby pictures. In one of them, she even wrote:

I officially have a baby fever after this trip home, so don’t even look at me unless you plan on being a stay-at-home Dad.

Personal Life

Separately, she is also fierce in activism in her native land, Hawaii. Ilima always retains her Hawaiian legacy near to her heart, as well as perform Halau Hula Olana.

Ilima always thrives for equality. Additionally, Macfarlane hopes to motivate young girls through her “Iliminator Scholarship.”

It provides traveling opportunities, cultural enhancement, and ethnic information opportunities to young native girls, ages 12 to 18.

In addition to her charitable activities, Macfarlane also has some individual goals. Moreover, she desires to take care of after her session as well.

Ilima is also thinking about purchasing a home for herself and her pup. Furthermore, she is grinding and working hard to get her studentship program off the ground.

The flyweight fighter spends the bulk of her time in the gym, getting ready to face fighters. As a result, she is such a strong lady with such down to earth personality. We are always rooting for her.

Ilima-lei Macfarlane | Social Media Presence

The MMA fighter is quite active on multiple social media platforms. Hence, Macfarlane has a huge fan base on her Instagram.

She has mentioned on her Instagram bio that she is a pineapple princess. Besides that, the athlete has also linked her scholarship program to it.

Recently, the undefeated MMA champ has posted several pictures of her and her fiancé, Jason.

Aside from that, she has done several brand endorsements done. Similarly, the champion fighter also advertises them in her feed.

We found some exciting things on her feed that she hates ice baths. She wrote,

Here are many things I can do. I didn’t become a world champion being mentally or physically weak. However, ice baths are not one of those things I can do ?. The only thing I can imagine being worse than this is childbirth, but at least I’d be in warm water.

There are some controversial posts in her feed too.

For example, the one where she is smoking a cannabis pre-roll. Furthermore, she added that she didn’t know Cannabis rolls were a thing until someone gifted her.

Macfarlane said that she doesn’t really know how to smoke them properly.

As a matter of fact, it seemed that she was advertising that product. Likewise, Ilima also mentioned discount codes.

The MMA fighter’s Instagram handle is – @ilimanator, while her Twitter account is @ilimanator.

Common Queries:

When does Ilima-lei Macfarlane fight next?

The MMA fighter played her last fight against Juliana Velasquez. Moreover, the match was her first and only loss in the entirety of her MMA career. Currently, her next fight date is not determined.