After huge UFC 211 win over Aguilar, Cortney Casey reflects on struggles to get recognition

DALLAS – On Saturday, Cortney Casey left the octagon at American Airlines Center in Dallas with the biggest win of her MMA career.

But, even after the impressive effort that earned her a clear unanimous decision over former WSOF champion Jessica Aguilar (19-6 MMA, 0-2 UFC) on UFC 211’s preliminary card, Casey (7-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) felt the lack of recognition when only a couple of reporters seemed to have questions for her.

“There’s no love,” Casey said. “There’s no love ever for Casey.”

Why does the strawweight think that happens?

“I don’t know why it is,” Casey said. “I just do my job. I try to fly under the radar as much as possible. I think I get more negative stuff out of it than anything, but I live a simple life. I’m happy doing what I do. If my family’s healthy, I’m healthy, people I care about are good, that’s really all that matters for me.”

Casey ended up getting a lot more questions. And, while she answered all of them as openly and cordially, she did call the media out on one thing: insisting on bringing up her controversial UFC Fight Night 100 loss to former title challenger Claudia Gadelha.

Although Gadelha was the one who threw an illegal blow then, Casey was accused by the Brazilian athletic commission (CABMMA) of basically faking the reaction to a kick that neither the commission nor Gadelha thought landed. While Casey was clearly upset about the ordeal then, she’s more than ready to move past it. That is, if we let her.

“It was in the past the day after the fight for me,” Casey said. “The media is the one that keeps it alive. You guys want to keep it alive, it’s going to stay alive forever. I’m over. I’ve been over it. I could (not) care less. (Gadelha) is a liar – it happened. Whatever she wants to say happened, I’m over it. I don’t care. I just want to continue to put on great shows, and that’s it.”

After officially bouncing back with the “pretty significant” triumph over Aguilar, Casey holds an even 3-3 octagon record. Her two losses prior to Gadelha, both decisions, stemmed from short-notice calls. Mixed results aside, Casey proven herself a tough competitor who is willing to step up under unfavorable circumstances.

And yet, her name is nowhere to be seen in the UFC’s official rankings. Casey is hopeful that a win over the ranked Aguilar, currently ranked No. 12, will get her in there. But, as it turns out, she is not the one who’s most invested in seeing that happen.

“I feel like it bothers the people around me,” Casey said. “Because of how much hard work I put in and the people I care about, to see these other fighters get recognized for what they do and I don’t. But, again, as long as I’m getting fights. The UFC knows who to call. I’m going to say yes to anyone, everyone, any time, any place. I’ll be there.”

While she’s willing to step up to face whomever in the octagon, Casey is not willing to compromise her morals outside of it in pursuit of notoriety. That means she’s not about to “degrade” fellow female fighters to hype up fights, or add “booty pictures” to her social media.

Asked whether she agreed with Aguilar’s remarks about sexiness trumping skill when it comes to women’s MMA, Casey didn’t hesitate. And, skeptical about this changing any time soon, Casey believes she and her peers must fight the pull that a largely male-dominated environment might exert over their career choices.

“I’m with her on that – I really am,” Casey said. “I feel we should be recognized for the athletes that we are, not for what we post on social media, stuff like that. I feel like we need to be role models for the young women coming up, the girls coming up, being positive influences to them, and let them know their attitudes and their well-being and their rights as humans should be recognized – not flaunting their sexuality to get somewhere.

“We fought tooth and nails to get to where we are today, to be considered equals as much as possible, and I think we should continue in that direction, not bring it backward just so we can get bigger sponsorships and stuff like that.”

To hear more from Casey’s full media scrum, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC 211, check out the UFC Events section of the site.