Former UFC welterweight and Ultimate Fighter alum Chuck O’Neil has won two of three fights since being released from the UFC, which includes a split decision win over Marcus Davis.
He most recently defeated Keith Jeffrey at CES MMA in December by decision and is looking for a bigger fight now.
He has his sights set on another former UFC fighter for his next fight and that would be recently released welterweight Jon Fitch.
“At the end of the day, I want to look at my career and say that I fought the toughest guys available at the time for me,” O’‘Neil told TheMMAReport.com. “Right now, one of the biggest things to me is that I want to fight Jon Fitch. In my mind, he is the best guy out there. As soon as he got released, I went to my coach and said ‘let’s make this happen’. He is a firm believer in me and with a good camp and a good game plan, he feels I can defeat anyone.”
O’Neil (10-5) is currently a free agent and wants to get back into action as soon as he can. He would like to fight Fitch, who has reportedly signed with the World Series of Fighting.
“In my mind, it’s not where he [Fitch] is. If I end up there, that would be awesome. It’s more so about the idea of fighting Jon Fitch. In my mind, he is one of the best guys out there right now and it’s questionable why he got cut by the UFC but in my mind he is one of the best guys in the world in my weight class. If I had the opportunity to fight that guy and that’s an awesome opportunity and I want that. Like I said, I want to look back and say I fought some of the toughest guys available.”
One of the reasons why Fitch may have been released by the UFC was because of his style and that majority of his wins are by decision. Even though his last four fights have gone to the decision, O’Neil’s mindset is to always go out and finish the fight.
“I have always had the mindset to go out and finish the fight. I am never just trying to play the fight safe ad just squeak by with a decision. I feel that there is a lot of guys out there and there are a few camps that are out that are like ‘let’s just play it safe and let’s grind out the decision’. That’s not me and I am not going out there looking for said specific finish but I am going out there trying to open up these finishes and put these peoples in bad spots where I can get these finishes. I am never in that mindset to go out there and just grind it out because that is kind of boring and I agree that no one really wants to see that.”
In today MMA landscape, fighters like to use social media to let people know what fight they want and that is what O’Neil is doing. He wants to let everyone know that he wants to face Fitch and is hopeful the fight will take place.
“If I want that fight, I have to let it be known and actually go out there and do something about it. I can’t just say to my friends and my coach that I want this fight. I am going to go out there and do something about it. My manager, Brian Gillespie is working hard to stay in contact with everyone and trying to make this work and trying to put me best possible position to make this work.”
He would be disappointed if a fight with Fitch did not take place, but would also be interested in going to Bellator and taking part in their welterweight tournament.
“If I got a chance with Bellator, it would definitely be an awesome opportunity and try to go out there and get into the 170 pound tournament and be able to fight some of the best guys in the world on a short notice kind of thing would be pretty cool. It’s all about life experiences in my mind and that would be an awesome life experience. To potentially fight three of the best guys in the world in my weight class in a six week span that is definitely a tough thing to do and it would be awesome.”
Time will tell where O’Neil’s next fight will take place, but he wants it to be known that he wants bigger fights.