A welterweight showdown pitting Geoff Neal
against Shavkat
Rakhmonov is slated for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s
first event of 2023.
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ESPN was first to report that Neal and Rakhmonov will lock
horns at UFC Fight Night on Jan. 14. The card is expected to take
place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a
middleweight tilt between Kelvin
Gastelum and Nassourdine
Imavov.
After dropping consecutive decisions to Stephen
Thompson and Neil Magny,
Neal has rebounded with a split decision triumph over Santiago
Ponzinibbio at UFC 269 and a knockout of Vicente
Luque at UFC on ESPN 40. The Fortis MMA representative has been
victorious in seven of his nine Octagon appearances since earning a
UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series.
Rakhmonov has emerged as a person of interest in the welterweight
division after beginning his professional career with 16 straight
triumphs. The 27-year-old Kazakhstan native is 4-0 within the Las
Vegas-based promotion and is coming off a second-round submission
of Neil
Magny at UFC on ESPN 38.