Viviane Araujo will have a change in opponent and venue after Casey O'Neill withdrew from UFC 293.
Araujo (11-5 MMA, 5-4 UFC) was scheduled to meet O’Neill (9-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) on Sept. 9 in Sydney, but the bout was scrapped after O’Neill was forced out due to an injury. Araujo now meets Jennifer Maia (21-9-1 MMA, 6-5 UFC) at UFC Fight Night on Oct. 14 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Two people of knowledge of the situation told MMA Junkie of change on Tuesday after an initial report by Sherdog.
O’Neill released a statement saying she’s already underdone surgery for the injury, but did not reveal exactly what happened (via Twitter):
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
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 🇦🇺 ❤️
Araujo will look to rebound after coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in her career. The 36-year-old dropped two straight unanimous decisions to current flyweight champion Alexa Grasso, and most recently Amanda Ribas at UFC 285.
Maia has split her past four octagon appearances. She is coming off two straight wins over Maryna Moroz and O’Neill, where she handed the Aussie fighter her first-career loss at UFC 286 in March.
The latest lineup for UFC Fight Night on Oct. 14 now includes:
- Irina Alekseeva vs. Melissa Dixon
- Emily Ducote vs. Ashley Yoder
- Edson Barboza vs. Sodiq Yusuff
- Jonathan Martinez vs. Adrian Yanez
- David Dvorak vs. Tatsuro Taira
- Viviane Araujo vs. Jennifer Maia
