Geoff Neal

Handz of Steel

USA

Snaps brief losing streak
WelterweightUFC
October 26, 2024
Neal defeated Rafael dos Anjos via TKO (knee injury) at 1:30 of Round 1 at UFC 308 on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.
ANALYSIS
Neal looked great for a long as the fight lasted. He came out on fire, picking up a huge knockdown and an easy takedown. He almost certainly would have continued to beat up RDA, but a knee injury suffered by the latter ended the fight in an instant. It's not the way Geoff was hoping to win, but entering with back-to-back losses to Ian Garry and Shavkat Rakhmonov on his resume, "Handz of Steel" needed a victory any way he could find one. The 34-year-old Texan improves his record to 3-2 in his past five bouts dating back to December 2021.
Read More News
Fight Log
Loading Fight Log...
More Fantasy News
Slated to take on dos Anjos
WelterweightUFC
August 3, 2024
Neal will face Rafael dos Anjos in a welterweight bout at UFC 308 on Oct. 26, Marcel Dorff of Eurosport.nl reports.
ANALYSIS
Neal is coming off two consecutive losses, the latest at the hands of Ian Machado Garry via split decision back in February. That's dropped his UFC record to 7-4-0, but he'll have a chance to get back into the win column against dos Anjos, who is also reeling from two straight losses. Neal's youth and reach, among other aspects, should give him a slight leg up here in late October.
Inconsistent ways continue
WelterweightUFC
February 17, 2024
Neal lost to Ian Garry via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 27-30) at UFC 298 on Saturday in Anaheim.
ANALYSIS
Neal fought better than the two 30-27 scorecards would lead you to believe, but it certainly didn't appear as if he did enough to win. Geoff's best round was the first. While he had serious issues all night closing the distance against his much longer opponent, he managed to do it with some regularity in Round 1. He began to absorb more damage as the fight progressed, highlighted by countless Garry knees right up the middle. It's baffling that a fighter of Neal's caliber, training with an elite team day after day at Fortis MMA in Dallas under "The General" Sayif Saud, couldn't make an adjustment to stop that mid-fight. Set to turn 34 years of age in August, Geoff now has a pair of two-fight losing streaks sandwiched around a brief two-fight winning streak. Time is running out for "Handz of Steel."
Another date with Garry
WelterweightUFC
December 17, 2023
Neal (undisclosed) is scheduled to face Ian Garry in a welterweight bout at UFC 299 in Miami on March 9, Danny Segura of USA Today reports.
ANALYSIS
The pair was previously scheduled to face off in August before Neal dropped out for medical reasons, and Garry ended up defeating Neil Magny. Neal lost his previous fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov last March but was victorious in his two prior bouts.
No longer fighting Garry
WelterweightUFC
August 9, 2023
Neal will not fight Ian Garry at UFC 292 on Aug. 19, according to Mike Bohn of MMAJunkie.com.
ANALYSIS
Neal had to withdraw because of an undisclosed medical issue. It is looking unlikely that Garry will find a replacement in time to fight him at Boston, with no updates and just 10 days left until the pay-per-view.
Garry fight scheduled
WelterweightUFC
June 14, 2023
Neal will fight Ian Garry in a welterweight bout scheduled for UFC 292 at Boston on Aug. 19, according to MMAJunkie.com.
ANALYSIS
Neal's next fight is against another undefeated welterweight contender, this time a fighter with three KO/TKOs and two decision wins across his five UFC fights. At UFC 285, Neal soundly submitted to Shavkat Rakhmonov, whose win promoted him to a top-six spot in the UFC rankings. The promotion is giving Garry that same opportunity now.