Athletes
Casey O’Neill Got Her Fire Back
Flyweight ‘King’ Casey O’Neill Finally Feels Back At 100 Percent After A Knee Injury And Is Ready To Prove It At UFC 296
Casey O’Neill is the first to admit that she probably shouldn’t have been fighting against Jennifer Maia earlier this year at UFC 286 in London.
“I don’t think that my knee was 100% as good as I thought it was,” O’Neill said. “It’s fine, it is what it is. I took away to not put too much pressure on certain things, without getting too deep into all of those things. Mentally, I am a lot better than I was then.”
Order UFC 296: Edwards vs Covington
O’Neill suffered an ACL injury last year, putting her out of competition for 13 months before she returned at the O2 Arena against Maia. Born in Irvine, Scotland, being able to compete in London was a dream for O’Neill, who was able to spend some time in her hometown for the first time in a long time after fight week.
After the loss, O’Neill was set to bounce back at UFC 293 in Sydney, Australia, but another injury forced her out of the bout. The struggles this year have helped O’Neill reflect on a lot of things.
“The London fight was hard for maybe a month at the start,” O’Neill said. “I did a lot of growing in this year. This has been a very testing year for me. I’ve learned to let things fly off my back, so I don’t care about any of that, and I am excited to move past it all for Saturday night.”
Now, she is set to compete for the first time in nine months at UFC 296: Edwards vs Covington against Brazilian Ariane Lipski. O’Neill said that the anticipation to fight again is killing her and she is happy to be at fight week.
And especially happy to be fighting in Las Vegas where she resides and trains.
Casey O'Neill Fight Week Interview | UFC 296
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Casey O'Neill Fight Week Interview | UFC 296
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“I want to have every fight week in Vegas from now on because I did not enjoy traveling, I did not enjoy the jet lag,” O’Neill said. “As nice as it was to be fighting so close to my home birthplace, I’ll stay in Vegas for now.”
As she prepared to face Lipski, who is unranked in the flyweight division, O’Neill went back to her roots during camp. She believes it is bringing an old version of herself who started her UFC career off with three stoppages in a row.
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“I think I am back to the old ‘King’ Casey,” O’Neill said. “I feel like that energy is back. I have the same excitement that I used to have for fighting when I first got into the UFC and that same hunger. I want to be a world champion and a big thing that I realized in this camp was that the way to be a world champion is to make fights dirty and just be mean.”
The resurgence of the excitement and hunger stems from finally feeling confident with her knee injury. The recovery process was hard on O’Neill, who said the hardest part was not being able to do everything 100 percent, such as grappling.
But now that things are back to full strength, O’Neill is ready to bring out her mean side against Lipski. When she views this fight against the Brazilian flyweight, she sees an easy path to victory.
MORE UFC 296: Fight Card Preview | Main Event Breakdown | Covington In His Own Words | Colby Rates Fellow Welterweights | MMA Coaches Break Down Main Event
“I think I win this fight everywhere,” O’Neill said. “I think it is an opportunity for me to remind everybody who I am and what I mean to this division. I’m a finisher. I’m a fast-paced fighter and I’m exciting. I think this is the perfect matchup to go out there and get another finish.”
Casey O'Neill Is Obsessed With Being The Best | UFC 271
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Casey O'Neill Is Obsessed With Being The Best | UFC 271
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Ending 2023 back in the win column is important for O’Neill who has big plans as she looks toward 2024, some of which include a main event and potentially fighting for the title.
“(For 2024) I see a couple fights in the Top 5 and maybe a main event at the APEX would be nice, so that’s some of the goals,” O’Neill said. “Maybe a UFC Scotland card; I know I said I didn’t want to travel, but I would definitely travel for that one and maybe even fight for the belt at the end of the year if all goes well.”
UFC 296: Edwards vs Covington took place live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 16, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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