Ariane Lipski is a fighter who never backs down, a quality she’s proud of. She’s been a professional fighter for a decade, and she’s always accepted fights against experienced opponents.
She’s proud that many of her opponents came from top gyms and continue to fight in major promotions. Lipski finds satisfaction in always being ready to fight and put on a good show. Even when the fights didn’t go her way, she was always ready for the challenge.
Lipski is a former KSW champion. She’s looking to move up the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s flyweight ladder. She hopes to crack the promotion’s Top 15 rankings for the first time. She’ll be confronting Casey O’Neill in the UFC 296 undercard this Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
She’s entering the cage on the strength of back-to-back victories over J.J. Aldrich and Melissa Gatto. Lipski finds the rankings a bit confusing. She’s noticed other fighters with common opponents have made it in the rankings, but she hasn’t yet.
The most important thing for Lipski is to face someone with a good name. She believes this should propel her closer to a title challenge. She sees Casey as that type of opportunity.
O’Neill, 26, is stepping back into the spotlight after her first professional setback. She suffered a unanimous decision defeat to former Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder Jennifer Maia at UFC 286 in March. O’Neill started her career 9-0, including UFC victories over Shana Dobson, Lara Procopio, Antonina Shevchenko, and Roxanne Modafferi.
Lipski thinks O’Neill is excellent and recognized. She feels she can have a good fight against her. She hopes this will help her climb closer to her objective in the UFC. Lipski acknowledges that Casey has a very good record despite having a brief career so far.
She plans to bring her years of experience against O’Neill. She’s curious to see how O’Neill behaves coming off her first loss. Lipski has gone through ups and downs herself and knows that she came back better. She believes Casey’s strong points are in all areas: striking, takedowns, and jiu-jitsu, but she’s not a specialist. Lipski plans to take advantage of this.
Lipski is fully confident in her pre-fight preparation. She’s disciplined and surrounded by the right team. They’re always working in the background, making sure she’s always prepared. She’s had access to weight training, physical therapy, private training, and more since the start. She acknowledges that this isn’t something that people see.
As Lipski approaches her 30th birthday, she views herself as a potential trailblazer. Her plans for the future remain the same. She works to be the best fighter and person she can be every day. If that results in becoming the best fighter in her weight class, she’ll be even happier. She also wishes to open doors for the new generation of Brazilian fighters.