Casey O’Neill set to return after ACL surgery against Jennifer Maia at UFC 286

Casey O’Neill will finally make the walk to the Octagon again.

O’Neill was supposed to face Jessica Eye at UFC 276 last July but in training, she suffered a torn ACL and was forced out of the bout. After going under the knife and rehabbing, she is finally ready to return and according to Dama De Ferro MMA, O’Neill will return against Jennifer Maia at UFC 286 on March 18 in London, England at the O2 Arena. The main event of the card has yet to be announced but will likely see Leon Edwards defend his title against Kamaru Usman for the third time.

Casey O’Neill (9-0) is coming off a split-decision win over Roxanne Modafferi at UFC 271 in Houston last February to improve to 4-0 in the UFC. Prior to that, the 25-year-old scored a TKO win over Antonina Shevchenko, a submission win over Lara Fritzen, and a TKO win over Shana Dobson in her debut.

Before signing with the UFC, O’Neill fought locally in Australia for the promotion Eternal while also having one fight at UAE Warriors which got her signed to the UFC. She’s currently ranked 11th at women’s flyweight.

Jennifer Maia (20-9-1) snapped her two-fight losing skid last time out as she beat Maryna Moroz by decision in November. Prior to that, she lost back-to-back decisions to Manon Fiorot and Katlyn Chookagian. The Brazilian is 5-5 in the UFC and fought for the belt back at UFC 255 in November 2020 losing a decision to Valentina Shevchenko.

Maia is currently ranked eighth at flyweight and in her career has notable wins over Modafferi, Eye, and Joanne Wood among others. The Brazilian has been in the UFC since 2018 and is the former Invicta FC flyweight champion.

With the addition of O’Neill vs. Maia, UFC 286 is as follows: