Casey O’Neill embraces her inner heel in response to crowd boos after win over Roxanne Modafferi
Aussie flyweight Casey O’Neill has no problem playing the heel and she stepped it up a notch at UFC 271 in Houston.
The rising star at 125-pounds scored a split-decision win over retiring women’s MMA pioneer Roxanne Modafferi.
A clear fan favorite, the American struggled to get much offense going against O’Neill, who set a new record for significant strikes landed in a three-round fight at flyweight.
Some sections of the crowd in the Toyota Center could be heard booing ahead of O’Neill’s post-fight octagon interview with Daniel Cormier. The 24-year-old responded emphatically.
“Hey, stop booing me,” O’Neill told those in attendance as the boos ramped up. “I know it was her retirement fight but it takes two to tango. “If you want me to be that bad guy, then f— you, I’ll be the f—in’ bad guy.”
Take a look at the interview below.
Despite improving her UFC record to 4-0 (9-0 total as a professional), questions were raised over the scoring of the fight following the decision. Two judges scored the bout 29-28 in O’Neill’s favor, while Robert Alexander had it 29-28 the other way.
Commentators and former UFC champions Cormier and Michael Bisping were left frustrated by Alexander’s read of the fight.
“I don’t think he should be judging mixed martial arts because that was crazy,” Bisping said. “That judge did not know what he was looking at.”
Cormier echoed those sentiments, calling for reform to the current system.
“We’ve got find a better way of making sure these judges know what they’re doing,” Cormier added.
Taking a look at the stats from the fight, Alexander’s scorecard looks even more puzzling. O’Neill outlanded Modafferi 229 to 120 when it came to significant strikes. She averaged 15.27 significant strikes per minute.
The win should see O’Neill knocking on the door of the division’s top ten, and she’s ready to keep the momentum going.
“Let’s get back on another pay-per-view as soon as I can and whoever they decide to give me next, I’m good with,” she said.
