With a red handprint painted over her mouth in representation of violence that affects indigenous women, Ilima-Lei Macfarlane made weight for tonight’s Bellator 295 co-main event against Kana Watanabe at the Blaisdell Arena.
Macfarlane (12-2, 11-2 Bellator), who weighed in at 126 pounds, presented Watanabe (11-1-1, 3-1) with a lei before the two squared off one final time.
Watanabe, whose only professional loss is by TKO to current champion Liz Carmouche, weighed 125.2 pounds.
Wahiawa’s Keoni Diggs and Ray Borg both didn’t even attempt to make weight and not only had their fights canceled, but were cut from the roster.
Diggs was scheduled to fight Weber Almeida at a contract weight of 148 pounds in a preliminary fight.
Borg was supposed to open the main card against Kyoji Horiguchi in a flyweight bout.
With that fight off, Makaha’s Yancy Medeiros had his fight against Charlie Leary moved onto the main card.
Medeiros weighed in at 162.4 pounds for his 165-pound contract weight fight against Leary, who tipped the scales at 164.2.
Medeiros (16-8, 1-0) scored a unanimous decision over Emmanuel Sanchez in his Bellator debut last year in Hawaii but hasn’t fought since as he recovered from injury.
Maui’s Sumiko Inaba made weight at 124.4 pounds for her flyweight fight against Veta Arteaga, who weighed in at 125.8 pounds. Inaba, ranked No. 9 in the division, is facing her first ranked opponent in Arteaga, a former title contender who is ranked seventh at 125 pounds.
Kamehameha alumnus Kai Kamaka III also had no problems making weight at 145.5 pounds for his featherweight title against Adli Edwards (145.6).
The preliminary card, down from nine fights to seven, will begin at 2 p.m. today, with the four-fight main card broadcast on Showtime starting at 5.
Tavares makes weight for UFC co-main event
Waiakea alumnus Brad Tavares weighed in at 185 pounds for tonight’s middleweight fight against Bruno Silva in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 71 at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
Tavares (19-8, 14-8 UFC) is fighting for the first time since a decision loss to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 276 last July.
Silva (22-8, 3-2) has lost his past two fights since having a seven-fight win streak end by decision against former middleweight champion Alex Pereira last March.