Female MMA fighter says Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is delaying release of $2.5M fund solely raised on Instagram for Maui wildfire victims

Female MMA star Ilima-Lei Macfarlane has claimed that Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has delayed the release of the $2.5 million fund she helped to raise on Instagram for Maui wildfire victims.

The fires took hold of the island in August after a downed power line caused a fire that ignited almost 80% of the town of Lahaina. Residents of the town were not notified of the rapidly spreading flames, and emergency sirens that were built for this exact purpose could not be heard anywhere.

At least 115 people have reportedly lost their lives. Bellator MMA star Ilima-Lei Macfarlane was among those who stepped up to help. However, despite raising about $2.5 million for the victims on Instagram, the money is yet to be released by Meta.

Speaking about it in a video posted on her Instagram, the MMA star mentioned that despite the fact that Meta has not released the money as of yet, she has managed to raise an additional $215,000 from personal fundraisers. She said:

"I don't have the 2.5 million. Meta has not released it yet. However, through independent fundraising, I have been able to raise money and send $215,000 directly to family’s personal fundraisers."

Take a look at her post below:

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MMA star Max Holloway teared up discussing wildfires on the island of Maui

Ahead of his fight against 'The Korean Zombie' on August 26, Max Holloway was visibly emotional because of the wildfires affecting his native people in Hawaii. Upon being asked to share a message for the people of Maui, 'Blessed' praised the people who were stepping up to help the victims.

Max Holloway had this to say:

"The people stepped up, the Hawaiians stepped up. And after the Hawaiians stepped up, the world stepped up. People are helping, the UFC is helping out with 'UFC loves Hawaii' and so on and so on. It's a tough thing man, I just shared on my story about how some people ended up passing away... and it's just tough man, they're the real heroes right now. They're going through it and my walkout song is going to be a dedication to them."

Catch his comments in the video below from 6:30: