“I battled with it for a couple of days,” Casey O Neill explains why she declined the fight against Maycee Barber at UFC 269


“I battled with it for a couple of days,” Casey O Neill explains why she declined the fight against Maycee Barber at UFC 269

Casey O Neill and Maycee Barber

The number 14th ranked UFC women’s Flyweight fighter, Casey O Neill secured her third straight win against Antonina Shevchenko on UFC Fight Night: Walker vs Santos, O Neill is now 3-0 in her UFC career and she isn’t picking her next fights before analyzing them.

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Following her win against Shevchenko at UFC Vegas 38, Casey O Neill stated that she wants to take some time off after this fight and work on her skills. But after 72 hours of her next fight, she was offered to fight again in December at UFC 269.

In her latest interview with MMA Fighting, O Neill says, “So about three days after my fight, I got called to fight in December, as I said after my fight, I want to take some time off. I said it after my [previous] fight, too, and I ended up getting the call to fight Antonina and said yes.”

“So now I think I have to take a little time to refine my skills and be ready for the challenges that are ahead because every fight is gonna be bigger and bigger from now on.”

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Later it turned out Casey O Neill was offered a fight against Maycee Barber, whose opponent Montana De La Rosa suffered an injury, and even after this tempting offer she decided to stick to her initial plan.

O Neill added, “I said I would take it in February if she wanted to wait, I battled with it for a couple of days, where I was like, ‘I really want to take it,’ but I know that I need to listen to the smarter people around me.”

“My coaches and my manager were kind of saying, ‘Hey, you’re being fast-tracked. If we take this one and get another win, we’re talking big, big fights after that and you still want to get better and grow,’ and I do.” {h/t MMA Fighting}

Casey O Neill believes her entry into the divisional rankings will help her to move forward

Casey O Neill
Casey O Neill

After securing her latest win against Antonina Shevchenko at UFC Vegas 38, Casey O Neill entered the official rankings of the women’s Flyweight division. Talking about her entry in the rankings she added, “That was crazy, I didn’t expect to be ranked because she wasn’t ranked when I fought her, but it got explained to me that because I got the three finishes, and being on a win streak, I was put in there. It’s really exciting and it’s something I’ve wanted to be. I wanted to be top 15, I want to be top 10, top five, the champ.”

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“Baby steps, but I’ve got the first one now, the first couple of bucket list items are checked off. I know that now that I’m in the top 15, I’m the one that people are gonna want to call out and I’m looking forward to that.”

Also Read: UFC 269: Erin Blanchfield saves the day, successfully replaces Montana De La Rosa to fight Maycee Barber.