Mixed martial arts was nothing more than a workout for Ilima-Lei Macfarlane.

Even after nine amateur fights, the 2009 Punahou graduate still saw the sport as a hobby when she made her Bellator debut in August 2015 with a split-decision win over Maria Rios.

It wasn’t until last summer — in her third fight with the company, when she submitted Rebecca Ruth by rear-naked choke in the second round — that Macfarlane (5-0) really began to understand just what kind of future she had in the sport.

“When I signed with Bellator, I saw myself just doing this for a couple of years and then going back to teaching and getting an actual career going for myself,” Macfarlane said. “The Rebecca Ruth fight at Dynamite 2, I suddenly realized I can actually do this. It was only then I quit my job to fight.”

Macfarlane, who improved to 4-0 in Bellator with a decision over Emily Ducote in December, has elevated to co-main event status for tonight’s fight against Jessica Middleton at Bellator 178 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

The fight will be shown on SpikeTV tape-delayed in Hawaii.

“This is huge,” Macfarlane said. “I’m not even stoked as much that I’m in the co-main event, but the fact that it’s women competing in the main event is huge.”

Macfarlane’s rise from overweight undergraduate student at San Diego State to Bellator co-main event has all happened in roughly four years.

After gaining “30 pounds” in college, she decided to join a gym to lose weight and walked into the closest place she could find near her job at a restaurant in San Diego.

The gym she found was a place called San Diego Combat Academy and she signed up with a woman named Liz Carmouche who Macfarlane had never heard of.

“I had no idea who she was and when she signed me up I said I had a wrestling background and they were happy because Carmouche needed a wrestling partner,” Macfarlane said.

Oddly enough, Carmouche was a household name in the MMA world by then, after fighting Ronda Rousey in the main event of UFC 157.

That’s how little Macfarlane had been involved with the sport.

“My first kind of introduction to it was when I was in middle school and that show ‘(American) Gladiator’ came out and Gina Carano was on there. My brother-in-law said she was an MMA fighter, so I thought that was kind of bad ass,” Macfarlane said. “I wrestled in high school and everything after that but never thought I would do anything with it past high school.”

As Macfarlane continued to work out at the gym, she was asked if she wanted to compete in a simple fight night event at the gym.

One fight turned into two turned into nine and it became apparent Macfarlane had the ability to compete as a professional.

Carmouche used to fight for now Bellator president Scott Coker in StrikeForce and the door was opened for Macfarlane to compete at the next level.

Four wins later without a defeat, Macfarlane has become a burgeoning star within the company.

“I feel like my career has definitely been very accelerated, but I think at the same time it’s a good thing because this is a sport that you don’t see a lot of longevity,” Macfarlane said. “You fight hard for a small window of time, make your money and then move on, so I kind of in a sense have been really lucky so far with how my career is going.”

Middleton is 2-0 in Bellator with two decision wins in a professional career that began only last year.

The fight will lead into a main event between Daniel Straus (24-6) and Patricio Freire (25-4) for Straus’ featherweight world title.