Dana White recently made headlines when he said that everyone in the UFC was scared to fight Khamzat Chimaev. There are a few fighters starting to speak out on the comments including UFC welterweight Geoff Neal.
Geoff Neal has often spoken about Khamzat Chimaev and the advantages he's had since signing with the UFC. The welterweight particularly had a problem with the idea that UFC fighters are scared to fight someone.
“I feel like that was like a bait move to get somebody to talk shit and then get one of the upper guys, the ones that can make the most money for Khamzat Chimaev to take the fight,” Neal told ClutchPoints. “That wasn't directed towards us at the fucking bottom five of the top 15. That was more directed towards the top five. Nobody's fucking… shit I'll fight him. I'm not thinking or worried about fighting him. I got Ponzinibbio ahead of me. But if I had no fight, and I was ready to go, healthy, uninjured. Yeah, I would take that fight. Nobody is scared of him. Like, we're fighters? Like, we're in the UFC? Who the fuck are we scared of? Nobody is scared of a fight.”
The big talking point was about how UFC fighters talk about wanting the fight on social media but no one steps up behind the scenes. Geoff Neal makes it clear that the UFC and the people in charge get plenty of calls about making fights.
“That's how it goes. Any fight that I want, or my coach, or that my coach thinks, I should take. We talk about it, and he has a direct link to the matchmakers. So he's putting timing in, putting it out there. But there's a lot of politics just because you say you want to fight somebody doesn't mean you're going to get that fight. You have to get them to agree. And then you got to get the UFC brass to agree. It's not that easy to get any fight that you want.”
Geoff Neal is currently set to take on Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC 269. The UFC has confirmed that the fight is still on and both men will compete on December 11.
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