Geoff Neal heads into UFC 269 in a must-win situation. The UFC welterweight is coming off of two losses and a tough situation outside of the cage. The Texas-based fighter needs a win against Santiago Ponzinibbio.

The fight has been a long time coming as Geoff Neal has been trying to fight the Argentine contender for years. The fight will finally happen at UFC 269.

“I've been trying to get this fight for a minute,” Neal told ClutchPoints. “A week after I fought Belal Muhammad, that's the fight I was trying to get next. Then after I fought Mike Perry… pretty much I've been trying to fight him for a while, but he's been sick. Then when he was ready to make his comeback, I was trying to tell people that like, I'll give him a shot to get back in the rankings because they kicked him out of the ranking. So I was like cool, I'm gonna try to fight him. I feel like he's still ranked so yeah if he wants to get back in the rankings, fight me.”

Geoff Neal really wanted to fight Santiago Ponzinibbio, there were others too but the Argentine stood out from the rest. The fight was finally scheduled for UFC 269.

“It's not that I wanted it so bad. Because there's a lot of other people I've been trying to fight too. He's not the only one but that's just one of the people in the ranking that made sense as far as like stylistically and where I wanted to be. It was just a good fight it's the perfect matchup for both of us. It can go either way but I do feel that it's the perfect matchup and I like his style. Fighting him is a good test for me.”

The big thing about two strikers meeting is that there is the potential for a big bonus. Fight of the night or even knockout of the fight could happen at UFC 269.

For some fighters, the bonus is the difference between taking a part-time job or training full-time. Geoff Neal heads into UFC 269 looking at the bonus as just that, a ‘bonus.'

“I'm not even worried about that, like, I would love the bonus. But it is just going to have to come. I mean, before, previously on my other contracts, when I was getting paid whatever I was getting paid. I needed that bonus because it will help but now I go out there and get the dub. I plan on getting the finish either way, but I'm not worried about getting a bonus or not, because I'm getting paid pretty well. So that extra 50 is just extra money.”

The big story for Geoff Neal at one point was that he was both a server and a fighter. He was working at the restaurant Moxies where he actually enjoyed his job.

The thing is, he was also a UFC fighter and needed to juggle a part-time job along with training. As much as he enjoyed it, needed to leave once he got burnt out.

“I love serving. I mean, in the beginning, I needed to serve. I needed to pay my bills and stuff. But once I started winning, and then starting to get more money, I didn't really have to be there anymore. I just kept on doing it just to give myself something to do. But eventually, I did get burnt out and I haven't been back to work in like a year and a half. Now I'm not working anymore. And it actually feels better. I'm more relaxed. I get to sleep more, I get to just chill. I need that especially now that I'm at the highest level of fighting that you can be. I can't be working like that. So, yeah, I think I'm done. Done being a server for a good, good while.”

Geoff Neal could realistically go back to serving if he wanted to, it's easy. The thing though is that people would probably recognize that their waiter is a high-level UFC fighter.

“Some could. I mean, I can go back to serve, it's not hard to because I've been doing it for just as long as I've been doing fighting, for like 10 years. So it's second nature for me to be a server, it's not too much stress on me. So I can serve and fight, it's not that hard. Not too many people really do notice [that I'm a UFC fighter] because I'm not a super big name. Like, they blessed me with these good positions on all these fight cards. But that's just based on the potential for violence. It's like ‘oh, let's put Geoff here because some shit might happen.' That's why they put me where they put me. It's not because I'm just like this big-name guy that everybody knows. One day that will happen but right now, like when I was serving nobody really knew me and that was good.”

The reputation for violence is one Geoff Neal likes a lot heading into UFC 269. He prefers to let his ‘handz of steel' do the talking.

“That's my mentality when it comes to fighting. I'm not here to talk shit. Let's just fight, the name of the game is fighting, it's not running off on social media. I like that I get my respect and I don't have to open my mouth to get paid and be where I'm at.”

Fighting a dangerous striker like Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC 269 adds an extra element of fun and danger. It makes Geoff Neal want to fight even more.

“It's one of those fights that makes me want to fight. It's dangerous. I need that danger going into the fights. I don't want to go in a fight. Like, ‘this ain't gonna be shit.' I want to be worried I want to be a little nervous. Because that's gonna make me perform at the best of my abilities.”

The way the fight plays out at UFC 269 is going to be very exciting either way. The Texas-based welterweight expects fireworks ether way.

“The same thing we always see. It is either going to be, get the job done in the first, second round or it'll be a three-round war.”