UFC 293 has lost a fight due to an injury suffered by Casey O’Neill, who will be replaced by Jennifer Maia for the fight against Viviane Araujo.
UFC 293 has experienced a setback following the withdrawal of Casey O’Neill due to an injury. O’Neill was scheduled to fight with Viviane Araujo, but after suffering a broken nose, she was forced to step down. An anonymous individual close to O’Neill revealed her condition to the media. The one-time title challenger Jennifer Maia will now be replacing O’Neill. Interestingly, Maia is the same fighter who recently gave O’Neill her first professional loss during their encounter at UFC 286. The development about the change in line up was initially reported by the MMA Junkie website.
Casey O’Neill took to Twitter to confirm her withdrawal from UFC 293. She stated that she was preparing for surgery to treat her injury. The tweet reads, “Hurts to say this but unfortunately I am out of my fight in Sydney. Just had surgery on Friday and have already started recovering, looking to get rebooked in December! Next year I’ll make sure I’m on an Australia card – Casey Oneill (@kingcaseymma) August 8, 2023.”
UFC 293 is set to take place on September 10 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. The event is presently without a designated headliner; nevertheless, multiple sources have hinted that a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland could be a strong possibility. However, these reports remain unconfirmed. On another note, Araujo, who is ranked as the No. 14 flyweight in the Global Rankings, has been facing a decline in her career lately with a 1-3 record in her past four matches, including a decision loss to Amanda Ribas at UFC 285. Meanwhile, Jennifer Maia, who is ranked No. 10, is chasing a two-fight winning streak.