Australian UFC star Casey O’Neill celebrated her victory by channeling Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn. The Australian Olympic breakdancer lost all three heats in Paris. She became a viral meme for her unorthodox routine. This included a T-Rex impersonation – and the ‘sprinkler’ dance move. Now, after her UFC 305 prelim win, O’Neill doubled down on impersonating Raygun.
Casey O’Neill faced Luana Santos in a women’s flyweight fight at UFC 305. Santos recently went viral for teaching saucy dance moves and submission techniques to content creator Nina-Marie Daniele during Fight Week check-ins. Going up against a foreign crowd, Santos had expected to face a hostile mimicry of her moves. Instead, Raygun faced all the wrath for her Paris 2024 performance as O’Neill blasted her.
I give that a 10…think I did better than she [Gunn] did in the Olympics. I think if they do bring it [breaking] back for 2028 I might need to take an MMA hiatus and go get a gold medal.
Casey O’Neill during UFC 305 post-fight conference interviews
On Saturday night, O’Neill snapped a two-fight losing streak. She snagged a much-needed unanimous decision victory over Santos in Perth. Her UFC 305 celebration was quite something. When the victory was announced, O’Neill burst into tears before falling to the canvas, rolling sideways and reaching for her toes, mimicking one of Gunn’s signature moves. She then stood, raised one leg, and leaned back, arms to chest, mimicking another.
“I think I did better than (Raygun) in the Olympics. … I might have to take an MMA hiatus and go and get a gold medal.”
Casey O’Neill explains the breakdancing celebration after her #UFC305 win. 😂 pic.twitter.com/IPmjomR4XN
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) August 18, 2024
Breaking made its debut in the French capital this year, following an inclusion effort in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. Many felt it didn’t qualify as a sport to be held at an Olympic Games. However, the non-traditional sport was never due to return for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. If and when it ever does, O’Neill quips she’d be a far better option for it.
Did Raygun actually score zero points in the 2024 Olympics?
Breaking at the Paris Olympics happened on August 9 and 10, with the women’s competition at 4 p.m. in Paris (10 a.m. ET) and throughout the evening. The battles for the bronze and gold medals took place at 3:15 p.m. ET each day. Underdog B-girl Raygun from Down Under scored a resounding 54-0 defeat overall.
Raygun (Source: nypost.com)Casey O’Neill and her UFC 305 post-fight diss notwithstanding, Gunn has had enough scrutiny already. While most people know she didn’t win a single point in her three Olympic bouts, Gunn admitted that wasn’t entirely true. Breaking follows the DJ sliders template, where three or more odd numbers of judges judge the battles on creativity, personality, technique, variation, performativity, and musicality.
Australian breakdancer Raygun says Olympics hate has been “devastating” and combats allegations she manipulated the selection process.
“When I went out there I had fun. I did take it very seriously. I worked my butt off preparing for the Olympics. I gave my all, truly…I… pic.twitter.com/VCnOMGMuEI
— Variety (@Variety) August 15, 2024
Each parameter has a different weight within the battle. Accounting for 60 percent of the total score, while variation, musicality, and personality make up the remaining 40 percent. Part of Raygun’s claim was true; there were no “points” to score the breakers. Instead, the judges at the Paris Games used DJ faders to score the dancers.
It’s called the Trivium Judging System, which the World DanceSport Federation implemented as a scoring system. In a dance battle, all sliders are centered, and both dancers are at 50 percent. If Raygun had not scored any “points” in her three bouts, all six sliders would be zeroed. She did not get the nod but had small victories in her movesets.
