Geoff
Neal has been through a rough patch for the past few
years.
Neal recently revealed that he has been battling alcohol and drug
addiction for the past five years. It started around 2020 when Neal
went into septic shock. Neal claims his longest periods of sobriety
in the last five years were a couple of weeks before his fights.
Despite going into his fights underprepared, “Handz of Steel” has
surprised himself by managing to stay in the rankings all along.
Neal recently overcame addiction by staying sober for 75 days
straight.
‘I Fell Into a Hole’
“I got done with the 75 hard challenge two weeks ago,” Neal told
Home of Fight. “But I had a real issue for five
years, around COVID, when I got sepsis, I fell into a hole… I had a
problem with addiction, drugs and alcohol, it was rough, five years
of it. The longest I was sober within those five years was two
weeks, and those weeks were usually before fights. I’d slow down
two weeks before the fight, come to the fight underprepared, out of
shape; it was rough. It’s crazy I stayed in the rankings the whole
time.”
Neal (16-7) is 1-3 in his last four outings, with the win
coming from a knee injury to his opponent. However, the perennially
ranked welterweight has only lost to elite opposition in Shavkat
Rakhmonov, Ian Garry,
and, most recently, Carlos
Prates. Neal is now scheduled to face Uros Medic
at
UFC Houston on Feb 21. Medic (12-3) is coming off back-to-back
first-round knockout wins and has never seen the judges’ scorecards
in his career.