Geoff
Neal is determined to not let his upcoming
UFC 298 meeting with Ian Garry go
the distance.
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Garry and Neal were initially slated to compete at UFC
292 in August. However, Neal was forced to pull out of the bout
due to undisclosed reasons and was eventually replaced by Neil
Magny.
Garry then went on to record a unanimous decision win against Magny
in a dominant showing and has now been rebooked to face Neal at UFC
298 on Feb. 17 after being forced out of his
UFC 296 clash with Vicente
Luque due to a severe case of pneumonia during fight week.
Infamous for his trash talk and antics, the undefeated Garry has
grabbed any and every opportunity available to belittle and
intimidate his opponent, including selling T-shirts with Neal’s
mugshot on them.
Neal doesn’t seem to be perturbed by Garry’s actions outside the
Octagon and is looking forward to capitalizing on all the attention
on “The Future” by finishing the Irishman before the final horn has
blown.
“I’m not going to engage in too much trash talk… I’ve never been
that type of person, but it’s entertaining, him talking s—t. But
the fans [have] got my back on this one. I don’t got to say s—t
anymore,” said Neal in an interview with Fanatics View.
Neal will enter the bout against Garry on the heels of a Round 3
submission loss against another undefeated contender in Shavkat
Rakhmonov at UFC
285 last year. Prior to that, the American was on two-fight win
streak that included a Round 3 knockout win over Vicente
Luque.
Neal is also well aware of Garry’s strengths, but he has a plan to
negate what his opponent does well.
“He’s real technical and rangy on the outside, so I’m just going to
have to get in there and make it dirty, make it ugly, push the
pressure, push the pace, test my COVID lung and see how much pace I
can push on him,” Neal said.
Despite Garry’s fighting prowess, Neal is confident he will emerge
victorious against the Irishman on fight night.
“I feel like I’m going to take him out in the second round … second
round, maybe early third round,” Neal said. “It’ll be satisfying
for sure, but I feel like it’s the perfect fight for me for right
now. He has a big name and he has a lot of hate, but hopefully I
can get some more clout, I guess you can say.”
UFC 298 is set to be headlined by a featherweight title clash
between reigning champion Alexander
Volkanovski and undefeated Spaniard Ilia
Topuria, while former middleweight champion Robert
Whittaker will face former title challenger Paulo Costa
in the co-main event of the evening.