Geoff Neal out of UFC Vegas 67 fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov
Geoff Neal has been forced out of his UFC Vegas 67 fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov with an injury.
According to MMA reporter Igor Lazorin, Neal sustained an injury and withdrew from his UFC Vegas 67 fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov on January 14. The report states that the UFC is looking for a replacement to face Rakhmonov on short notice. The main event of UFC Vegas 67 sees Kelvin Gastelum take on Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Apex.
Geoff Neal (15-4) is on a two-fight win streak and is coming off a third-round KO over Vicente Luque and before that, earned a split decision win over Santiago Ponzinbbio. Prior to the back-to-back wins, Neal suffered two straight as he dropped decisions to Neil Magny and Stephen Thompson.
Neal is currently ranked seventh at welterweight and is 7-2 in the UFC with his other wins over Mike Perry, Niko Price, Belal Muhammad, Frank Camacho, and Brian Camozzi.
Shavkat Rakhmonov (16-0) is a perfect 4-0 in the UFC and picked up the biggest win of his career last time out as he submitted Magny in the second round back in June. The 28-year-old is ranked 10th at welterweight and has finished all of his UFC fights – inside two rounds – with his other three wins over Carlston Harris by KO, Michel Prazeres by submission, and Alex Oliveira by submission. Before signing with the UFC, he was the M-1 welterweight champion.
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
- Omar Morales vs. Mateusz Rebecki
- Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Raoni Barcelos
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Claudio Ribeiro
- Mateus Mendoca vs. Javid Basharat
- Sijara Eubanks vs. Priscila Cachoeira
