MMAMelee.com
Chuck O'Neil (born September 22, 1985) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the welterweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2006, O'Neil has fought all over the Massachusetts area, building an 8-3 record on the regional circuit even having a 1-0 stint in Bellator Fighting Championships. Chuck has held the title for Cage Titans FC in the welterweight division. He was a competitor on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos. O'Neil was recently released from his UFC contract on June 17th 2011. O'Neil signed with the UFC in 2011 to compete on the The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos.O'Neil was selected as an alternate for the T.V. show and received his chance to compete once Myles Jury of Team Lesnar was forced to withdraw due to injury. In Chuck's first bout of the competition he fought Zach Davis and lost via a triangle choke in the first round. Luckily, Dana White chose Chuck to occupy one of the two "wild card" positions; keeping him in the running for the grand prize of a six figure UFC contract.O'Neil faced Team dos Santos' Javier Torres in the "wild card" bout. Chuck was able to defeat Torres via a D'Arce choke in the second round of the fight. The win moved him into the quarter-finals.O'Neil then had a rematch with Zach Davis in the quarter-finals. O'Neil was able to dominate Davis this time around and win by unanimous decision after two rounds. O'Neil then moved into the semi-finals and fought teammate, Tony Ferguson. O'Neil was eliminated from the competition after losing to Ferguson via third round TKO.
MMAMelee.com sat down with TUF season 13 contestant Chuck O'Neil and got an update on his progress,training and whats next for "COLD STEEL"
" I made the move to Nashua Nh back in August this past year. Basically it was time to change things up with my camp as well I took the opportunity to get away and completely focus on training and getting better. I've been training under Nate Ryan at Mass BJJ in Acton Ma, as well as cross training with my coach John Fain at Triumph MMA/BJJ. I also have been directly working with a boxing coach at an actual boxing gym, PAL Nashua, for the first time in my career. My coach Muhammad Brooks has been opening my eyes to my stand up and constantly filling in the holes. Finding a spot within my new gyms have been awesome and have been increasing my skills as well as my overall game everyday. Since my fight with Marcus back in October, Ive been living at the gyms wanting to improve as much as possible. Ive developed a love for BJJ. Its no longer a necessity to me I now do it because I love it. I received my Purple Belt from Nate Ryan back in December. Also back in December my good friend and sponsor Mike Mccandless, owner of Smartpowders.com, sent myself and my main training partner/coach Jimmy Quinlan down to Florida to spend some time at IMG Academies. We worked with coach Phil Wallin on developing more explosiveness to our games within MMA. Since being there Ive been able to back on some size as well as definite strength.
As far as what is next for me..... March 31st I will be out in Irvine Cal for the Gi Pan Ams and looking to bring home gold in the purple belt division. As far as fights go we are planning to get something going for mid to late April. We want to make sure we take the best possible fight matchup to help progress my career. Hoping for a tough UFC vet if possible as we want to be back in the UFC and feel thats the best way to be tested and prove were ready by beating guys who were recently released by the company".
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