Gallery Photos: Best of Ilima-Lei Macfarlane view 17 images

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane got what she wanted when Bellator had her defending her title against Valerie Letourneau in Hawaii.

As even the most seasoned vets will tell you, though, the privilege of being the local hero is a trade-off. For all the support, there’s also pressure. With all the attention, comes expectation. And then there’s the balancing act of handling the added promotional labor while simultaneously preparing to fight another human inside a cage.

Not only did Macfarlane (9-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) have all of that on her plate, it was also in a particularly momentous occasion: The return of a major MMA organization to Hawaii after more than a decade. All the while, she was training for her most experienced and dangerous foe in a former UFC title challenger.

Macfarlane was always keenly aware of Dec. 15’s Hawaiian headliner meant. As she told told MMAjunkie minutes after it was announced, she expected something 10 times worse than her already-hectic title defense a few months earlier. She expected things to get busy. And she certainly expected them to get emotional.

She was right: It was a very emotional moment as the champ walked out to a sold-out Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. But all the tears she shed on her way to the cage in no way interfered with the job that Macfarlane had to do inside of it.

Macfarlane not only got her hometown win, but did so in style, bringing Letourneau the first submission loss of her career. It also meant a 2-0 year for Macfarlane, both submissions in title defenses, and a seventh finish in her unbeaten career.

Macfarlane now sits at No. 2 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA women’s flyweight rankings.

It wasn’t just inside the cage that Macfarlane impressed, though. From her refusal to fall into the often-lucrative game of belittling her opponents to the acknowledgement of her important role as both a Hawaiian and a woman in MMA, Macfarlane made sure to use her platform in a light-hearted and constructive way.

It’s not that we hadn’t heard of Macfarlane before 2018. It’s not that we didn’t think she was talented, intriguing or promising. She just hadn’t been given a test as physically and emotionally challenging as the one she passed with flying colors in Honolulu.

At 28, just four years and nine fights into her pro career, Macfarlane was faced with the type of make-or-break moment that not many fighters get to experience in a lifetime. And for making damn sure it made her, she is MMAjunkie’s 2018 “Breakout Fighter of the Year.”

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.