Casey O’Neill has never feared jumping into the unknown, but that doesn’t mean she’s flying blind when it comes to her career aspirations.
Considering that she kickstarted her career by flying to Las Vegas without a place to live or anywhere to train, simply in hopes that the UFC would take notice and sign her, the 24-year old flyweight prospect thrives whenever the opportunity arises to bet big on herself.
Despite this, O’Neill has the intelligence to take on long-term challenges, such as eventually getting a chance at UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shchenko.
” I bet against anyone, regardless of what,” O’Neill said to MMA Fighting. If it were up to me, I would say yes to everybody. However, Mick [Maynard] understands what I want. He knows the path that I’m trying to build and the legacy that I’m trying to build. I’m trying to retire as the greatest fighter to ever do it, obviously, as we all do, and I think that making the right steps is a super important part of that.
“Just trying to beat better opponents as they come along. If I have to fight the entire flyweight list before getting to Valentina I will be happy to. I still believe that I’m a couple years away from fighting Valentina. There are still many things that I need to do before I can get there with Valentina. I want to be the first person to take her out. So [I’m] not too long away, but also not tomorrow either.”
It’s that kind of brutal honesty that could help O’Neill succeed where so many others have failed.
Since moving to 125 pounds, Shevchenko has been a human wrecking ball who has completely demolished every single contender in her path. Shevchenko lost a round to Jennifer Maia, a lopsided decision that was apparently the last hope for flyweights who aspire to be the next Shevchenko.
O’Neill is convinced that Shevchenko could be her Anderson Silva Chris Weidman, but that it’s not the right time.
“Obviously, Valentina is amazing and she makes me better everyday,” O’Neill explaind. It’s hard to sit down on the couch and not think Valentina is working. If she is, I will get up and run with her or do another session. I feel like Ronda [Rousey] pushes me just as Joanna [Jedrzejczyk] pushes all the strawweights.
” She pushes us to improve and is a great example of how everyone can get better by being the best. I love having someone like Valentina at the top of our division. Her presence is a great motivator .”
With a 3-0 record with three finishes to start her UFC career, O’Neill already has a lot of people taking notice and she’ll look to make it four in a row when she returns on Saturday night in Houston.
UFC 271, O’Neill takes on Roxanne Modafferi, a pioneer in women’s MMA. This will be her final fight as she says it will be. She plans to retire after the match regardless of what the outcome is.
While the story surrounding the fight may seem to be about one generation of mixed-martial artists passing the baton on, O’Neill doesn’t think so.
“I don’t believe it’s the right fight for her so I’m thankful that she agreed to fight.” O’Neill stated about Modafferi. “I’m not sure if it’s a passing of the torch, per se, because I do believe that people are looking at me to just smoke her, which I do believe that I’m going to do anyway.
” I think that the torch is already passed. This is just going to be like a nail in the coffin type thing.”
There’s a very thin line that separates confidence from cockiness but O’Neill definitely understands the difference even while making that kind of bold prediction where Modafferi is concerned.
O’Neill has learned from the past mistakes that others before her have made and that’s why she’s more than ready to tackle her next challenge at UFC 271 while still acknowledging that she’s got some time to go before clashing with a savage like Shevchenko.
“You’ve got to look at it as a marathon and not a sprint,” O’Neill said. It all comes down to honesty with yourself about where you’re at the moment. When you do well, people will smoke your a** and tear you down, while when you don’t it will be blown up by others. It’s like you can never go too high or too low.
“You’ve got to stay within yourself and be honest with yourself and assess how you’re doing as a person and try to not let the outside factors matter too much. I’ve tried really hard on staying level headed and keeping good people around me who are honest with me as well.”
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