Macfarlane suffers fifth-round TKO loss at Bellator 300

Ilima-Lei Macfarlane suffered a fifth-round TKO loss to Liz Carmouche to open the main card of Bellator 300 tonight at Pechanga Arena in San Diego.

Macfarlane, whose left leg was hurt by a kick in the third round, screamed out in pain as she fell to the mat after another hard leg kick in the fifth round ended the fight 17 seconds in.

The referee waved off the fight immediately after she fell to the ground.

Macfarlane (13-3, 12-3 Bellator) had never been finished in a fight. Carmouche (20-7, 7-0) has finished six of her seven fights in Bellator.

The two women trained together in San Diego for years before Macfarlane’s friend Carmouche changed gyms.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t difficult,” Carmouche said about fighting a friend. “Everything (Macfarlane) did for the 125 (pound) division is the reason that the women are here in Bellator. If it wasn’t for Ilima, I wouldn’t be here. Nobody else would.”

On the preliminary card, Kamehameha alumnus Kai Kamaka earned a split-decision victory over No. 9 featherweight Henry Corrales for his third straight win. Kamaka (12-5-1) won all three rounds on one of the judges’ scorecards, with the other two having it 29-28 for each fighter.

Corrales dropped to 21-7 with his first loss in his past four fights.