One of the best women’s flyweight prospects returns at UFC 276 to take on a former title challenger. However, it’s not the prospect that was originally supposed to be fighting. Yesterday, we learned that Casey O’Neill had suffered a torn ACL and is out of her upcoming fight.
“King” Casey was looking to remain unbeaten while getting a shot against someone in the UFC’s top ten. However, she tore her ACL during training and is being forced to undergo surgery to repair her knee. With that, she’ll be out for a considerable amount of time.
Jessica Eye (15-10) wanted to remain on the card so the UFC started looking for replacements. Fortunately, they had another top prospect who just fought, won, and was also looking to challenge someone with a ranking in front of her.
That prospect would be “The Future” Maycee Barber (10-2). BJPenn.com was the first to report that Barber was the replacement. Barber just fought last weekend where she picked up the unanimous decision victory over Montana De La Rosa. After hitting a couple of speed bumps, Barber has now won two fights in a row.
New UFC 276 Contest
After winning a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series, Maycee Barber started her career like a bat out of hell. She won her first three fights all by TKO and she was given a big push and was put in there with Roxanne Modafferi.
The Happy Warrior helped derail the hype train of Barber by beating her by decision. Barber also suffered a knee injury in that fight that kept her out over a year. When she returned, she lost to Alexa Grasso at UFC 258.
However, since then, she’s looked good with wins over Miranda Maverick and De La Rosa. Now, she’s getting a former title challenger in Jessica Eye. Things have not gone well for Jessica Eye since her UFC title shot against Valentina Shevchenko.
Since her title shot, she’s gone 1-3 which includes three losses in a row. Fighting a prospect like Barber is a step back for Eye, but it’s a needed one. This is a big fight to see where exactly she’s at in terms of competition level.