With the women’s flyweight division very much up in the air at the moment, a couple of key names in the weight class will throw down at UFC 296 this December.
That fight will see Casey O’Neill (9-1) look to bounce back from the first loss of her professional career when she takes on Ariane Lipski (16-8) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ag.Fight was first to report news of the booking, which O’Neill confirmed on social media.
O’Neill came out victorious in her first four bouts under the UFC banner, which had many seeing her as a future title challenger in the women’s flyweight division. After taking home wins over the likes of Roxanne Modafferi and Antonina Shevchenko, however, O’Neill would drop a unanimous decision against former title challenger Jennifer Maia.
Brazil’s Lipski has won both of her fights in 2023, picking up decision wins over JJ Aldrich and Melissa Gatto. A former KSW women’s flyweight champion, “The Queen of Violence” will be looking to break into the top 15 in the fight; “King” Casey O’Neill currently sits in the #14 spot in the 125lb division.
UFC 296 is set to be headlined by the long-expected welterweight title fight between champ Leon Edwards and former interim champ Colby Covington. A flyweight title fight between Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval serves as co-headliner.
The following fights have been reported for the event thus far:
- Leon Edwards (c) vs. Colby Covington — for the UFC welterweight championship
- Alexandre Pantoja (c) vs. Brandon Royval — for the UFC flyweight championship
- Tony Ferguson vs. Paddy Pimblett
- Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Stephen Thompson
- Vicente Luque vs. Ian Machado Garry
- Cody Durden vs. Tagir Ulanbekov
- Karol Rosa vs. Irene Aldana
- Ariane Lipski vs. Casey O’Neill
