Ilima Macfarlane is determined to be part of the inaugural Bellator women’s flyweight championship fight. She doesn’t know when the belt will be introduced or who her opponent would be, but said she’s certain no one deserves to be part of the fight more than her.

If there was any doubt about that, Macfarlane (6-0 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) believes she proved her worth once again with a first-round submission victory over Jessica Middleton (2-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) this past Friday at Bellator 178.

“I did what I wanted to do,” Macfarlane told MMAjunkie after her victory. “I wanted to put on a performance that left no questions I should be fighting for the belt next. Everything that I visualized happening, that’s what happened. So I’m happy.”

Since Bellator reintroduced women’s fights nearly two years ago, Macfarlane has been the most active female competitor. She’s made five appearances for the organization in less than 20 months, winning all of those fights in relatively decisive fashion.

With an undefeated record which includes four stoppages in six fights, Macfarlane said she’s certain she’s the best 125-pound fighter on the Bellator roster. She said her improvements every fight are noticeable, and the latest display was the wrenching armbar that finished Middleton in the Spike-televised Bellator 178 co-headliner at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

With the most fights and wins of any female in Bellator, Macfarlane is eager to make history by becoming the promotion’s first champion in her weight class. The issue, however, is that a lack of worthwhile opponents exist for the Hawaiian.

It originally seemed Bellator was building a fight between Macfarlane and fellow unbeaten Anastasia Yankova (5-0 MMA, 3-0 BMMA). Unfortunately, Yankova has repeatedly struggled to make the flyweight limit, and unless she can find a fix, won’t be inserted into a championship bout any time soon.

Macfarlane, 27, believes the weight issues of her colleagues may force Bellator to look outside the organization for an opponent who makes sense.

“I think that as far as the women’s division, besides Anastasia, they’re going to have to bring in a veteran,” Macfarlane said. “Or even, I know Colleen (Schneider) has been making noise about getting a title shot, but she also hasn’t (made weight) yet, so I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

As far as outsiders go, former UFC women’s strawweight title challenger Valerie Letourneau (8-6 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) was seated cageside for Macfarlane’s Bellator 178 victory. Letourneau recently parted ways with the UFC because she could no longer cut down to the 115-pound division and wanted to fight at flyweight.

Today it was confirmed that Letourneau had officially signed with Bellator, and “Trouble” would be the perfect foe for Macfarlane. “The Ilimanator” said she’s on board with that idea as much as any other.

“That would be great,” Macfarlane said of Letourneau. “Valerie’s a great fighter. She was in the UFC. I think that would be legit – that would be a legit matchup.”

For more on Bellator 178, check out the MMA Events section of the site.