Casey O'Neill sends Roxanne Modafferi into retirement with split decision win at UFC 271

Casey O'Neill continued her unbeaten UFC streak with a split decision victory over veteran Roxanne Modaferri on Saturday night at UFC 271.

The Scot entered the cage as a heavy favourite against Modafferi, who has confirmed heading into the fight that she would have be hanging up the gloves regardless of the result.

O'Neill, who also represents Australia in her fights, had promised to put the "final nail" in Modafferi's career coffin.

And she did just that with an impressive showing to continue her rapid ascent up the flyweight rankings, that included a record-breaking amount of strikes landed.

But she was made to work for her ninth career win by Modafferi, who managed to bloody her nose and cause severe swelling under the eyes early.

A monstrous reception greeted the two fan favourites as their prelim bout was announced to the Houston crowd, and they delivered an impressive showing.

O'Neill struggled with finding her distance early and was tagged a few times for her troubles.

But she began to get comfortable as the fight wore on, with her strong counter-punching ability allowing her to find openings on the busy veteran.

O'Neill's nose was bloodied early by Modafferi, although she almost certainly took the first round before flying out of the traps in the second.

Neither woman showed any interest in taking the fight to the ground as the fight began, allowing fans to see an intense striking match, which was edged by O'Neill.

But that changed with seconds to go in the second as Modafferi landed a takedown, although she couldn't do much with the few seconds she had left.

And the Houston crowd went absolutely nuts for Modafferi as she took in the entirety of her final step up from the stool ahead of round three.

The youth