Bellator 300 down to 2 title fights as things turn dicey following Ilima-Lei Macfarlane weight miss
Unfortunately, things have turned dicey for Bellator 300 as the promotion's milestone event has lost a title fight after Ilima-Lei Macfarlane missed weight for her women's flyweight title fight against champion Liz Carmouche.
The former women's flyweight champion failed to make weight on three attempts and will compete with an official weight of 126.6 lbs, which is 1.6 lbs over the flyweight limit for title fights. Despite the weight miss, the fight will continue as scheduled, but 'The Ilimanator' will be unable to win the women's flyweight championship should she defeat Carmouche.
According to MMA Junkie, there was confusion as to whether the fight would remain a 5-round bout or be contested as a three-round non-title fight. Despite the uncertainty, it was later confirmed that the women's flyweight bout at Bellator 300 would remain a 5-round title fight, with the challenger being ineligible to win the title.
It's an unfortunate situation for reigning women's flyweight champion Liz Carmouche as this is her second consecutive title defense in which her opponent missed weight. This previously occurred at Bellator 294, when DeAnna Bennett missed weight by 1.2 lbs.
Which other title fight was removed from Bellator 300?
Unfortunately, Bellator 300 hasn't gone according to plan by any means as the promotion already lost one title fight after Linton Vassell was forced to withdraw from his title fight against reigning heavyweight champion Ryan Bader.
Following 'The Swarm's removal, light heavyweight contender Corey Anderson expressed interest in stepping in as his replacement. If approved, Anderson and Bader would have competed in a rematch of their 2021 encounter, which saw 'Overtime' earn a first-round TKO to advance to the semi-finals for the light heavyweight Grand Prix.
Despite Corey Anderson offering to step in on short notice, the heavyweight bout was removed entirely as Scott Coker noted that there wasn't enough time to put together a worthy heavyweight title fight.