Jennifer Maia ends the undefeated run of Casey O Neill at UFC 286

The showdown between Casey O Neill and Jennifer Maia went down today at UFC 286. The fight saw Maia end the undefeated run of O Neill.

The fight opened with both fighters threading cautiously and it was Maia who had a slight upper hand in a razor-thin first round. She landed the better number of strikes in the first round which stood out as a visible difference.

While O’Neill did have some better offence in the second round, Maia showcased some crisp boxing and was landing combinations throughout the round.

O Neill could not stage a comeback in the third round as well which resulted in the win being awarded to Maia via a decision.

Casey O’Neill came into the fight on the back of an undefeated record. She had taken a one-year break after her last fight at UFC 271 to recover from an injury.

In her last fight, she was seen going up against Roxanne Modafferi and the fight ended in ONeill’s favour via a split decision. Prior to this, she had secured a win over Antonina Shevchenko as well.

Jennifer Maia, on the other hand, came into the fight with a professional MMA record of 20-9 to her name. The 34-year-old had outclassed Maryna Moroz in her last fight in November. Before this, she suffered two back-to-back losses to Manon Fiorot and Katlyn Chookagian.

Maia, interestingly, had challenged Valentina Shevchenko for the title back in 2020 as well and had been looking to rebuild since her loss to Shevchenko. She was also in the Top 10 of the UFC Flyweight rankings heading into the fight at UFC 286.

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The fight between O Neill and Maia was supposed to happen on the prelims earlier but was moved to the main card just days before the pay-per-view. The outcome is also expected to have a huge impact on the UFC Flyweight division considering the placement of both fighters in the flyweight rankings.

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What do you think of the fight between O Neill and Maia? Let us know in the comments below.

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