The 32-year-old Neal began his UFC tenure with four consecutive victories, as well, establishing himself as one of the top up-and-coming names in the division before he spent a year on the sidelines and a portion of the summer in the hospital recovering from a near-death battle with sepsis.
When he returned, the Dana White’s Contender Series graduate dropped a five-round decision to Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, halting his winning streak, and then followed it up with a three-round loss to Magny five months later.
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Following his second straight defeat, Neal acknowledged he needed to press pause and get right, ultimately returning in December to edge out Santiago Ponzinibbio on the scorecards to get things moving in the right direction again. Then last summer, “Hands of Steel” became the first fighter in the UFC to finish Vicente Luque, and the only man to stop the durable, dangerous Brazilian with strikes in his career.
It was a reminder to the masses that Neal was once the hot new name racing up the rankings, and Rakhmonov is aware that he has a dangerous task in front of him this weekend if he wants to continue his own ascent.
“Geoff is a really good striker; we’ll see how he will approach the fight,” Rakhmonov said of his opponent this weekend. “I’m not gonna say much; the fight will show who’s better.
“Winning at such a big event means a lot to me,” he added. “It will be an honor to defeat Geoff Neal in front of so many eyes.”
