Top UFC prospect Casey O'Neill has said that she feels like she's competing with Paul Craig and Joanne Calderwood to become the most prominent Scottish fighter in the world.
Craig and Calderwood are ranked twelfth and sixth in their respective light heavyweight and flyweight divisions, while O'Neill, who also has close family ties to Australia, is an up-and-comer with just seven professional fights.
And she has told Mirror Fighting that she wants to surpass the achievements of the pair, as well as other top Scottish fighters who have competed in the company like Steven Ray and Robert Whiteford.
To do that, she'll have to start with an eighth professional win this weekend against Antonina Shevchenko, the sister of current flyweight champion Valentina, in Las Vegas.
"They're definitely inspirational, I like to see people from my places doing well," O'Neill said of Craig and Calderwood.
"Obviously they were both in there before me and paved the way for me, so it's awesome to see them still in there and doing really well.
"But to be honest, I'm looking to take over that, I want to be the one when people look at Scottish MMA, or Australian MMA.
"I want to be that person, so they inspired me at the start but now I want to overtake them, it's a little bit of a competition for me."
O'Neill is a confident character, and enters the cage with the nickname "King".
And she believes that despite Shevchenko's vast experience, she will be able to outwork the Kyrgyzstani fighter, predicting a second round finish.
"I'm going to finish her in the second round on the ground," O'Neill said when asked about how she sees the fight finishing when she steps in the cage on Saturday night.
"I don't know if it's going to be a TKO or a submission, if she wants to give it to me after I've hit her a hundred times, that would be nice.
"I feel super confident, my training to this point was super hard, and I only got better and better as it went on so I think that the best version of me will show up on fight night."
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Shevchenko's three career losses have all come at the hands of currently ranked opponents, number 3 Kaitlyn Chookagian, number 11 Roxanne Modafferi and number 12 Andrea Lee.
But O'Neill believes that she has what it takes to hand her a second consecutive loss for the first time in her career.
"I watched a few of her fights live because I'm a fan of the sport, and I've watched a few back since I got the fight, but I'm more so focused on what I'm going to do," she continued.
"I think that what I bring to the table is a lot for anybody to deal with no matter how long you've been in the sport or whoever you are.
"I think that my pressure, my pace is something that people talk about a lot and that's something I pride myself on, and that's what I'm looking to do when I go out there."
You can watch UFC FIGHT NIGHT®️: SANTOS vs WALKER this Saturday, 2 October on BT Sport 1.
The main card kicks off at 12:00AM BST . The prelims start at 9PM and will be live on UFC Fight Pass.
