UFC welterweight Geoff Neal is ready to test undefeated star Ian Garry and believes it will be an exciting treat for the fans given the matchup.
Mixed martial arts veteran Geoff Neal started his professional career over a decade ago in Aug. 2012. He made his way to the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series by defeating Chase Waldon in Jul. 2017. After a successful debut, he went on a five-fight win streak that saw him beat the likes of Belal Muhammad, Mike Perry, and Niko Price. He also knocked out Vicente Luque last year.
Neal was last seen in action against rising sensation Shavkat Rakhmonov in his last outing at UFC 285 three months ago. He put up a tough challenge for ’Nomad’ but eventually succumbed to a rear-naked choke in the final minute of the bout. For his next challenge, he will take on Irish fighter Ian Garry.
Geoff Neal is ready to test undefeated Ian Garry
In an exclusive interview with James Lynch for Middle Easy, Geoff Neal shared his thoughts on the stylistic matchup for his upcoming match with Ian Garry.
“It’s a weird one, not weird but he’s just a taller fighter you know what I mean?” said Neal. “So, it’s going to be me trying to get in on the inside and do my work and he’s going to be trying to manage the distance, and whoever could dictate their game plan is going to win the fight.”
Garry is coming off a dominant win over Daniel Rodriguez in his last outing. He faced Rodriguez as the toughest opponent of his career and passed the challenge with flying colors, scoring a first-round TKO finish with a head kick and punches to extend his unbeaten run to 12 wins.
Neal gave his take on Garry’s latest win. Having taken on Rakhmonov, who’s also undefeated, Neal is ready to test Garry’s abilities inside the octagon.
“I don’t know [if Garry’s that good or he’s got the power]. August 19, we are going to find out. I’m not Daniel Rodriguez, there’s that. We’ll see August 19 if he’s as good as he says he is. I mean I’m here to test him. We’ll see. Another undefeated fighter so let’s see.”
Neal predicts an early finish or an exciting 3-round war
Considering the finishing ability of both fighters, ‘Handz of Steel’ predicted the bout could end early and would make for entertaining viewing for the fans over the course of three rounds in the case it did not.
“I feel like this should be five given his style. It’s going to take a while, maybe, who knows? He might be aggressive but like I said, it plays out like I always say it’s going to play out. It’s going to be a quick finish or a three-round war. That’s how most of my fights go so we’re going to see.”
Neal is aware of Garry’s tendency to take a considerable amount of damage but isn’t banking on hurting his opponent easily after his showdown with Rakhmonov.
“I really haven’t watched too much on him yet because I’m more just focused on getting in my routine and getting in the camp before I start focusing on the game plan but I’ve heard he gets hit a lot. It doesn’t matter. It’s a fight. Shavkat got hit a lot. I seen he takes a lot of damage but that motherf**ker had a chin from hell so we’ll see how it plays out. If he can take my punches then… we’ll see how it goes.”
Geoff Neal is scheduled to fight Ian Garry at UFC 292 on Aug. 19. He will look to get back to winning ways and hand Garry the first loss of his professional career.
