Undefeated 23 year old year ‘King’ Casey O’Neill from the Gold Coast takes on Brazilian Lara Procópio at UFC Fight Night: Jung vs Ige on Sunday June 20th (Australia).
This will be O’Neil’s second UFC fight after her second round TKO win over Shana Dobson at UFC Fight Night 185 – Blades vs. Lewis back in February this year. The Scottish-born Australian fights in the UFC’s female Flyweight (125lb) division and is currently unranked. She is certainly a talented Australian prospect you should keep an eye on.
‘King’ Casey, lives on the Gold Coast but trains under Tiger Muay Thai Head MMA Coach George Hickman. Tiger Muay Thai is a well known gym in Thailand where several high profile fighters including fellow Australian and current UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski and former men’s UFC Bantamweight Champion Petyr Yan train.
Interestingly it is also the where current UFC female Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko trains, so it is likely that O’Neill has trained or at least been witness to her hopeful future opponent. While it is certainly not a fight on the cards anytime soon, if ‘King’ Casey continues on her dominating undefeated win streak it might be a conversation we start having sooner than we think.
Embed from Getty ImagesO’Neill’s career has been impressive so far, breaking into the worlds leading Mixed Martial Arts promotion at just 22 years old. Coincidently this is the same age as former UFC Middleweight Champion and current number one ranked contender Robert Whittaker. So if that’s anything to go by she has a bright future in the sport ahead of her.
Eternal MMA Strawweight Champion
In her last outing before the UFC, Casey had her first KO/TKO win with a second round stoppage over opponent Christina Stelliou at ADW: UAE Warriors 13. This was her debut at Flyweight (125lb) as she previously fought at Strawweight (115lb). It was at this weight that she became champion of premier Australian promotion Eternal MMA.
The undefeated, now prospect of the UFC Flyweight division was born in Scotland before moving out to Queensland with her family at the age of ten. She began kick boxing classes as a child but didn’t take fighting seriously until she started jiu jitsu as a teenager. After watching The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate she began believing that she could one day join the UFC.
O’Neill is well rounded mixed martial artist combining muay thai, wrestling, jiu jitsu and kick boxing. She tends to favour controlling clinch and ground positions in order to dominate her opposition. This makes her next match up against Procópio interesting, as the young Brazilian has two submission wins on her record. Procópio is a 25 year prospect with two UFC wins including a decision over Molly McCann in February.
Despite facing a dangerous opponent, O’Neill opened as a small betting favourite at -185 while Procópio opened at +135. The line has stayed consistent with a small shift in favour of Procópio who is currently a +130 underdog. O’Neill is stil favourite at -179.
Before her debut at the start of 2021, O’Neill was supposed to fight at UFC: 254 in October 2020. She was all set to be a replacement fighter for her teammate Cynthia Calvillo who tested positive for COVID-19. However not long after finding out she would be join the UFC, O’Neill also tested positive to COVID-19. Thankfully she made a full recovery and didn’t seem affected by the virus in her first fight for the UFC.
Don’t Miss ‘King’ Casey O’Neill’s Next Fight!
Make sure you tune to support our fellow Australian ‘King’ Casey O’Neill on UFC Fight Night: June vs Ige. The broadcast starts at approx. 8am on Sunday June 20th (Australian Eastern Standard Time). You can watch the fight with a UFC Fight Pass. Foxtel or Kayo subscription.
- Casey O’Neil Wins at UFC Fight Night: Jung vs Ige 🥋🤼♀️ - June 20, 2021
- Eternal MMA 60 – Results & Live Update - June 5, 2021
- ‘King’ Casey O’Neill – Rising Star – Fighter Highlight - May 29, 2021
