Geoff Neal and Shavkat Rakhmonov will no longer be fighting at UFC Vegas 67 on January 14.
Neal and Rakhmonov were set to be the co-main event of the card in a very intriguing welterweight scrap as ‘Nomad’ was looking to remain undefeated. However, just two weeks before the fight, it was reported that Neal suffered an injury and was forced out of the contest.
Apparently @handzofsteelmma is all talk
— Shavkat “Nomad” Rakhmonov (@Rakhmonov1994) December 29, 2022
Show up then 🤫 https://t.co/O7dS9SrFpp
— Shavkat “Nomad” Rakhmonov (@Rakhmonov1994) December 29, 2022
“Apparently @handzofsteelmma is all talk,” Rakhmonov tweeted while also adding “Show up then.”
After the news was confirmed by Neal, he took to his FaceBook to say he isn’t scared of Rakhmonov, which many fans claimed he was. The hope for the Fortis MMA product is they can rebook the fight once he’s healthy.
“Fights off people. Looking to rebook Shavkat later. Nobody’s scared,” Neal wrote.
As of right now, there is no word on whether or not Rakhmonov will remain on the January 14 card or if the UFC will rebook the Neal fight at a later date.
Geoff Neal (15-4) is on a two-fight win streak and is coming off a KO win over Vicente Luque back in August. Prior to that, he earned a split decision win over Santiago Ponzinibbio to return to the win column. Before the victory over Ponzinibbio, he lost back-to-back fights to Neil Magny and Stephen Thompson. In his career, the seventh-ranked welterweight holds notable wins over Belal Muhammad, Niko Price, and Mike Perry.
Shavkat Rakhmonov (16-0) picked up the biggest win of his career last time out as he scored a submission win over Neil Magny. He also holds stoppage wins over Alex Oliveira, Michel Prazeres, and Carlston Harris in the UFC.
With Neal vs. Rakhmonov off, UFC Vegas 67 is as follows:
- Kelvin Gastelum vs. Nassourdine Imavov
- Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. TBD
- Punahele Soriano vs. Roman Kopylov
- Dan Ige vs. Damon Jackson
- Jimmy Flick vs. Charles Johnson
- Allan Nascimento vs. Carlos Hernandez
- Ketlen Vieira vs. Raquel Pennington
- Daniel Argueta vs. Isaac Dulgarian
- Nick Fiore vs. Mateusz Rebecki
- Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Raoni Barcelos
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Claudio Ribeiro
- Mateus Mendoca vs. Javid Basharat
- Sijara Eubanks vs. Priscila Cachoeira
Would you like to see the UFC rebook Geoff Neal vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov?