Former opponent praises Casey O'Neill's helicopter armbar at UFC 331
Casey O'Neill scored one of the slickest armbars in recent memory at UFC 331, causing one of her former opponents to laud the submission.
At UFC 331, Casey O'Neill scored only the third submission win of her career, and did so in style with a rare helicopter armbar. It was so astonishing, in fact, that one of O'Neill's former opponents took to social media to heap praise on her.
Casey O'Neill's grappling draws the attention of an ex-rival
Casey O'Neill extended her win streak to three straight victories at UFC 331, where she took on Eduarda Moura in a women's flyweight grudge match in the early prelims. In round one, she nearly fell victim to a D'Arce choke, but Moura lost her grip, forcing her to lay in O'Neill's guard. With her feet on Moura's hips, O'Neill extended her legs, elevating Moura, before turning and catching a stray arm to lock in a lightning-quick helicopter armbar, forcing the tap from Moura almost immediately. It was one of the slickest submission of 2026, and it drew the attention of women's MMA pioneer Roxanne Modafferi.
After 45 professional fights, Modafferi retired from MMA on a three-fight losing streak. Her last fight was against none other than O'Neill, who she faced at UFC 271. It was a competitive fight, but in the end, Modafferi lost to O'Neill via split-decision after three rounds. The memory of that loss is still a bitter one for Modafferi, who referenced it in her reaction to O'Neill's submission of Moura.
"I'm upset that Casey O'Neill got a win over me, but her jiu-jitsu today was super impressive and that helicopter arm bar was amazing. I'm impressed someone did a helicopter arm bar in MMA."
While Modafferi, whose MMA career began over 20 years ago in 2003, is retired, O'Neill is far from done with her own at just 28 years old. She has put her previous two-fight losing streak behind her by authoring a three-fight win streak, and with Valentina Shevchenko having vacated the women's flyweight title due to a serious injury, the division is wide open.
Natália Silva and Wang Cong will square off for the vacant title at UFC 332, and while O'Neill still has a lot more work to do, like cracking the top 10, before she can eye a potential title shot, she's on the right path.
