Fighter Profile: Casey O'Neill

By Tom Masters

Casey O’Neill only began fighting professionally in 2019 and now at just 24 is starting to make serious waves in UFC.

Nicknamed ‘King Casey’, she is now a part of the Xtreme Couture MMA team after initially being part of the Tiger Muay Thai team from 2019-2020.

She is one of the most promising flyweight fighters, currently ranked number 15.

Background

O’Neill was born in Irvine, Scotland and initially grew up in Kilmarnock where her father Cam was a kickboxer himself.

She started to follow in her father’s footsteps aged four with kickboxing training and at the age of 10, her family moved to Australia where from 13, she began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

The now 24-year-old was 15 when fighting in her first amateur MMA fight, suffering a heavy defeat to a 19-year-old fighter. After suffering another heavy loss the year after, she decided to knuckle down for two years prior to her next fight, which she duly won.

O’Neill then went on a five-fight unbeaten run and turned pro at 21, moving to Phuket, Thailand to begin training at Tiger Muay Thai gym.

Career

O’Neill began her professional MMA career with four wins in Australia, defeating Amira Hafizović, Jada Ketley, Miki Motono and Caitlin McEwen all by decision with the exception of Ketley’s submission.

She then took on her first fight abroad, fighting Christina Stelliou in Abu Dhabi in UAE Warriors 13, recording her first knockout in the process with punches.

She then took on her first UFC fight, again knocking out her opponent, Shana Dobson in the first of her fights in Las Vegas.

A technical submission followed in her second UFC fight against Lara Procópio also in Las Vegas and a hat-trick of Las Vegas wins came in her most recent win against Antonina Shevchenko by TKO.

What next?

On 12 February, the unbeaten O’Neill goes up against the experienced Roxanne Modafferi, 39, at the Toyota Centre in Houston, Texas.

It is a huge opportunity for the Aussie-Scot against a far more experienced opponent at another major venue, as she looks to go nine from nine in her pursuit of reaching the top of the women’s flyweight category.

Photo Credit: Getty Images