HONOLULU – There are a few differences from Valerie Letourneau’s last fight for a world title and the one she has ahead of her in the headlining bout of Saturday’s Bellator 213.

First off, more than three years have passed since Letourneau’s (10-6 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) unsuccessful bid at UFC gold against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, meaning there’s been time to add tools to her skillset. There’s the stage, too, as she went from challenging for a UFC belt in front of a record crowd in Melbourne to a Bellator title in her opponent’s native Hawaii.

But perhaps most importantly, or at least more noticeably, “Trouble” Letourneau is now fighting for Ilima-Lei Macfarlane’s (8-0 MMA, 7-0 BMMA) flyweight title, rather than the strawweight bout that Jedrzejczyk successfully defended with unanimous decision in their five-round battle.

How big of a difference can 10 pounds make?

“I mean, can’t you guys tell?” Letourneau asked reporters, including MMAjunkie, ahead of Saturday’s DAZN-streamed headliner at Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. “Just look at my mood. And I’m still cutting weight. It was just, really, I cannot believe I did that before. I really cannot believe. That’s the best way to feel. I feel strong. I feel like I can really use all my skills. It’s just happier, you know, so it’s better for all the people around me. That’s my weight class.”

Letourneau’s struggles making 115 pounds are not news. “Trouble” was so open about them, in fact, that she became somewhat of a face of the push for the UFC to include a women’s flyweight division – which would go on to happen, at least on a permanent basis, shortly after Letourneau signed with Bellator.

Even if she didn’t talk, the results would. After joining Bellator, Letourneau took decision wins over Kate Jackson and the durable Kristina Williams to, at 35, stamp her shot at Macfarlane’s belt.

Letourneau won’t attribute the entirety of her recent success to the weight – she is, after all, someone who’s constantly training and evolving at the gym. But she also offers some perspective as to what those 10 pounds, which may not even look like much to others, mean when you’re a high-level fighter in camp.

“Imagine going through eight weeks of camp, very little bit of food,” Letourneau said. “And after every training, sometimes we train for two years, three times a day. And add 30, 40 minutes of cardio after every session. That you’re already completely drained of. And cardio makes you lose muscle, you burn muscle. Obviously, you’re going to lose strength with time. If you do two hours of exercise, drilling, wrestling, whatever and you jump on a cardio machine and you add another 40 minutes, what you’re going to burn is mostly muscle.

“Especially when you have no fat left. That’s what it was. And at the end, even looking at my body. I didn’t like the way I looked, I didn’t want to look like that. Mentally, also, I was fighting at 135 – I always felt strong. Even when you grapple, and the girls. And when you’re 20 pounds less, you feel it. And it hurts your confidence. You have to fight differently. You’re just not as confident as you were.”

In general lines, Letourneau explained, less concern about the weight means more focus on her skills. And those will certainly come in handy against the tough, unbeaten foe Letourneau is up against in Macfarlane.

Throughout the entire lead-up to the fight, both champion and challenger have remained respectful toward each other. That hasn’t changed as the fight grows closer. Speaking to MMAjunkie, Macfarlane gave an honest assessment of where she felt Letourneau was strongest, and “Trouble” had no problem doing the same.

“She’s a great grappler,” Letourneau said. “And, also, she’s very calm. She’s very composed. It looks like she really trusts her coaches, she follows the gameplan. So I know they’re going to come with a smart gameplan and she’s going to apply it. And I need to fight smart, too.

“I was there the last fight. I could even see her warming up, walking. I can feel people like. I know she’s calm. She’s in her zone. So I just need to stay focused on my gameplan and do this thing.”

As for what the champion has going against her? As she’d told MMAjunkie Radio, Letourneau doesn’t buy into the narrative that fighting at home is an advantage. In fact, having endured the situation before, she believes it can be the opposite.

“My first experience fighting in my home town, back in 2007, was terrible,” Letourneau said. “I remember how I felt. I completely froze. I never want to feel like that ever again. But I think she’s different, really. Ilima, she’s so calm, she can be totally different. She looks very spiritual. So it’s maybe going to be an advantage for her. But I’m just thinking this week, all I have to focus us is me and my team and what we’re doing. I’m sure she’s way more busy than I am.”

Just because that first experience was terrible, though, it doesn’t mean Letourneau doesn’t want a chance to have her own title defense in her own backyard. And while “Trouble” doesn’t want to let herself get distracted from the task at hand, that’s a conversation that she wants to have with the Bellator brass should things go her way.

“We already have two champs from Canada,” Letourneau said. “That’s definitely enough. We’re going to be three champs from Canada, There’s definitely something to do over there.”

To hear from Letourneau, check out the video above.

And for more on Bellator in Hawaii, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.