“It was not just sweat,” Casey O’Neill accused of “cheating”  against Jennifer Maia at UFC 286

Flyweight contender Jennifer Maia has accused Casey O'Neill for cheating in their bout. She says Casey appeared slippery but it was not sweat.

“It was not just sweat,” Casey O’Neill accused of “cheating”  against Jennifer Maia at UFC 286

Jennifer Maia accuses Casey O'Neill of cheating (Image Courtesy - MMA Fighting)

Jennifer Maia and Casey O’Neill fought on the main card at UFC 286. It was a back-and-forth affair that saw Maia come out victorious. In her post-fight media appearance, Maia came out with an accusation against O’Neill for greasing before their fight. She was talking about wanting to show her grappling skills to the fight fans but was unable to get O’Neill to the ground.

Maia said, “I really wanted to show you guys my ground game, but Casey was very greased up  very oily, very slippery, and that really threw me off. Listen, I don’t want it to just call shots like this. Maybe skin moisturiser, but definitely, it was not just sweat.” Maia talked in Portuguese, and another person translated this.

YouTube video

This is a grave accusation coming from Jennifer Maia against Casey O’Neill. Maia failed with her all her takedown attempts in the fight. She was 0 for 4 takedown attempts. Therefore, she abandoned all her wrestling attempts to focus on striking, leading her to victory.

FS Video

Maia won the contest unanimously, 30–27, 29–28, 29–28 on the scorecard. With the victory, Maia is now on a two-fight winning streak. Earlier in 2020, she challenged Valentina Shevchenko for the Flyweight Championship. She will now focus on challenging for the title again.

Related: “Absolute Warriors” Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fiziev’s UFC 286 violence fest leaves Twitter abuzz

Casey O’Neill responds to accusations from Jennifer Maia

Casey O'Neill
Casey O’Neill denied any cheating allegations (Image Courtesy – Daily Star)

Casey O’Neill lost a decision to Jennifer Maia at UFC 286. However, Maia told the media after the fight that O’Neill appeared slippery and not sweaty. Maia thinks some skin moisturiser helped O’Neill to stuff all of her takedown attempts.

YouTube video

O’Neill responded on Twitter, saying, “She did outbox me for sure, I was as off. But my wrestling defence was better than her takedowns, I worked so hard on it… to say I’m greased is bullshit.“

Before fighting Maia, O’Neill was undefeated. Now she has to regroup and improve on the deficiency that made her lose the fight. However, she is still young and has plenty of time to improve.

In Case You Missed It

“D**k shot. Dead” Fans go nuts as ‘dirty fighter’ Leon Edwards defends the Welterweight title against Kamaru Usman at UFC 286

“I should decide who’s next,” Leon Edwards says no Dana White privilege for Colby Covington