For most fighters, the opportunity to fight for a major title is a dream scenario and the culmination of a long journey that started out with distant hopes of one day becoming a champion.

But for British Bellator women’s flyweight contender Kate Jackson, who challenges champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane at Bellator Hawaii on Dec. 21, it’s been a little different.

That’s because when Jackson (11-3 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) started out on her MMA journey, she had no idea where it would lead. A true veteran of the sport in the U.K., Jackson began her career when women’s MMA was still in its infancy on the global stage. Her dreams were much more modest early on, and it’s only been more recently that the martial artist from Newquay in the southwest of England has had the opportunity to compete on the world stage.

And, after a 10-year MMA career spent largely out of the spotlight, the prospect of the 33-year-old traveling to Hawaii and potentially capturing the Bellator women’s flyweight title is one that would make Jackson immensely proud.

“It would be amazing,” she told MMA Junkie. “When I started, Bellator, UFC – none of that was an end goal like it is now. They were opportunities that didn’t even exist. I spent the first five years of my career just fighting for the hell of it, really – just for the wins on my record and nothing else. So it’s kinda strange. It’s not something I’ve dreamed of my whole life, or whole career, because it just wasn’t there. But the fact that it now exists, and you can just about make a living out of the sport and train full-time, is pretty amazing.”

Jackson fought through those early days of women’s MMA in England, where opportunities for female fighters were scarce. But in 2016, she came close to her big break when she was included on Season 23 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” when she was the second pick for Claudia Gadelha’s team. She reached the semifinals before being eliminated by eventual winner Tatiana Suarez and was never given a chance to test herself in the UFC.

But, a little more than a year after the TUF 23 Finale, Jackson signed with Bellator and made a winning debut at Bellator 182. And now, after claiming back-to-back victories over Anastasia Yankova and Lena Ovchynnikova at Bellator 200 and Bellator 223, respectively, she’s been handed a shot at Macfarlane’s title.

“I’m still trying to get my head around it,” she said. “I thought I was going to get one more fight and I’d get a title opportunity if I picked up one more win. So I was kinda surprised to get the offer for December and this show in particular. It’s an amazing opportunity.”

The opportunity for Jackson isn’t simply to become a champion, it’s a chance to become the first British female athlete to hold a title with a major MMA organization.

“It hadn’t really crossed my mind until you mentioned it, to be honest,” she said. “It’s pretty cool. But obviously getting the opportunity is one thing, actually winning is another. So there’s a lot of hard work to go between now and then. It’s definitely going to be interesting. I don’t expect it to be easy, but she’s not unbeatable.”

Jackson’s title shot represents the landmark moment of a career that spans the full growth curve of women’s MMA in the U.K. And, for an athlete who admits that she went into the sport blind to what might follow, it has been a journey of genuine discovery and development as she has progressed from enthusiastic newbie to seasoned veteran and, now, Bellator title challenger.

“Ten years ago, I’ve been quite open on the fact that I didn’t really have a clue what I was doing at the start,” she said. “The sport was still in the very early days in the U.K., and there was no amateur scene worth speaking of. So I only had one amateur fight, which was old-school, semi-pro, whatever that entailed back in the day.

“It’s taken a while, but I’ve definitely reached a point where I feel I know what I’m doing. I’m confident in my ground game in particular. I’m a brown belt, I’ve competed a lot. So it’s all finally come together.”

It’s finally come together for the sport in her part of the world, too, with MMA experiencing a noticeable uptick in popularity, with a host of promotions holding regular, well-run events throughout the year. And with Bellator themselves establishing a major European presence in 2019, with even more events to come in 2020, the opportunities for fighters to follow in Jackson’s footsteps and make it to the big stage have never been greater.

“It’s really good to see the amount of European shows that are happening,” she said. “I didn’t expect the November London show they announced recently, so that’s really good news. In a way, logistically, it would be easier to fight on that London show, but Hawaii’s pretty cool, as well.”