Geoff Neal’s personal issues were used as a laughing matter by his previous would-be opponent.
UFC 292 in Boston, Massachusetts was expected to feature a Welterweight tilt between Neal and rising undefeated Irish star, Ian Machado Garry (13-0) in August 2023. Unfortunately for Neal, an injury led to his withdrawal and replacement by fellow veteran, Neil Magny.
Garry went on to outclass Magny throughout three rounds, winning a unanimous decision. However, before the match up was changed from Neal to Magny, Garry made light of Neal’s past driving under the influence (DUI) charge with a t-shirt that had his mugshot on it. In hindsight, the whole ordeal was confusing and not too pleasing for Neal.
“I was surprised because before the fight he sent me a message on Instagram like, ‘Hey, man. Thank you so much. Mad respect for taking this fight, man. Best of luck.’ Being all friendly and s—t in my inbox,” Neal told James Lynch. “I didn’t respond back to him. I think that’s why he wanted to make the shirt because I just read the message and left it there.
“It was just weird,” he continued. “He said it was his team that did it, it wasn’t him. But he decided to go that route and I don’t know, f—k it. I really wasn’t too pissed off about it. It was just annoying. People thought it was funny and I’m like, ‘You think that s—t’s funny?’ There’s nothing funny about it. That’s tasteless. I didn’t get it.”
Neal, 33, last fought against another rising unbeaten superstar, Shavkat Rakhmonov (17-0) at UFC 285 in March 2023. Unfortunately for Neal, he suffered his fifth career loss (15-5) in the bout via a third round standing rear-naked choke (watch highlights). Garry is now set to take on Vicente Luque at UFC 296 in Las Vegas on Dec. 16, 2023.