There have been no easy outs for Cortney Casey since coming to the UFC in 2015.
Her debut inside the Octagon was vs. Joanne Calderwood, while her second fight was vs. veteran Seo Hee Ham. Casey dropped both via decision, but rebounded with first round finishes in 2016.
Saturday night at UFC 211, the 30-year-old might have earned the biggest win of her career to date, taking a convincing decision over former World Series of Fighting champion Jessica Aguilar in the featured UFC Fight Pass prelim bout.
Casey (7-4) was coming off another decision loss – this time to ex-No. 1 contender Claudia Gadelha – in November. But she had no trouble with Aguilar, a 19-fight winner in her career.
“(Aguilar) wanted a tune-up fight,” Casey said. “I’m not much of a tune-up for anyone. I hope she got what she wanted.”
Aguilar (19-6) had been on the sidelines since 2015 when she was defeated by Gadelha in her UFC debut. Whether it was rust or the constant pressure of Casey, “JAG” was well off her game.
Casey connected with a head-kick that left Aguilar dazed and also landed at a high rate to the face of her opponent.
