“King” Casey O’Neill is expected to take on Roxanne Modafferi in a women’s flyweight clash in a classic up-and-coming prospect versus hardened veteran matchup.
O’Neill will look to face Modafferi on February 12th on the UFC 271 PPV card. The venue and location are yet to be confirmed as well as the headlining fight for the event. The news was first reported by MMA Ideas.
O’Neill (8-0) is undefeated in her professional MMA career so far with eight victories, five of those coming by way of finish as a submission or knockout. She was last seen in action against Antonina Shevchenko, where she impressed the masses when she TKO’d the Kyrgyzstani fighter in the second round last month.
O’Neill has proven to have a well-rounded skill-set, as she has demonstrated this year with three victories in the UFC, two by TKO and one by rear-naked choke submission against Shana Dobson, Lara Procópio, and the aforementioned Shevchenko. Flying high after joining the promotion, O’Neill faces arguably her toughest test against Modafferi and will hope to keep the winning momentum going. As of this writing, the 24-year-old is the #15-ranked flyweight and hopes to crack into the top 10 with a win against Modafferi in February.
Modafferi (25-19) last fought back in September at UFC 266, where she suffered a unanimous decision loss to Talia Santos. Prior to that, she also lost to Viviane Araújo back in January, the first time Modafferi has lost back-to-back since 2006. Hoping to rebound from her loss, she will look to get back to winning ways against O’Neill and show why she deserves to be ranked in the women’s flyweight division.
Currently ranked as #11-flyweight fighter, Modafferi is a veteran of 44 MMA fights and is by far the most experienced fighter O’Neill faces with wins over the likes of Antonina Shevchenko, Maycee Barber, and Andrea Lee.
Do you think Casey O’Neill is the future of the women’s flyweight division, or do you think Roxanne Modafferi derails the hype train?
