Casey O’Neill’s Return Set on UFC 286 Against Jennifer Maia
Two ranked fighters from women’s flyweight rankings will clash at UFC 286 PPV as Casey O’Neill is set to return after one year.
O’Neill will face Jennifer Maia in London. The news first came from Dama de Ferro MMA Twitter handle on Wednesday before confirmation from MMA Island and MMA Junkie on Thursday.
Jennifer Maia is currently ranked at #8 in UFC Women’s Flyweight rankings. Casey O’Neill, despite inactivity for about a year, is at #11 in the same rankings.
O’Neill, undefeated in 9 MMA bouts so far(4-0 UFC), was last active at UFC 271 in February 2022 when she defeated Roxanne Modafferi via split decision. She was supposed to Jessica Eye on UFC 276 PPV but had to pull out due to a torn ACL injury.
O’Neill started her UFC journey in 2021 with stoppage wins over Shana Dobson, Lara Procópio and Antonina Shevchenko.
Jennifer Maia is 2-2 since losing Flyweight title bout to Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 255. She defeated Jessica Eye at UFC 264 before losses to Katlyn Chookagian and Manon Fiorot in early months of 2022. She was last seen beating Maryna Moroz at a Fight Night event in November 2022.
UFC 286 takes place at The O2 Arena in London, UK. No headliner is announced for the event until now. Christian Leroy Duncan expects to make his UFC debut on the card while Gerald Meerschaert is also hopeful of keeping his booking.
Marvin Vettori vs. Roman Dolidze and Joanne Wood vs Luana Carolina are some of the other bouts reported for UFC 286.
