UFC welterweight Geoff Neal wants Gilbert Burns. In the wake of Burns requesting Jorge Masvidal – and Masvidal claiming that he’d prefer a money fight against Conor McGregor – Neal appeared on The MMA Hour to point out that he might as well fight Gilbert Burns first, considering that Masvidal won’t be in the Octagon again for some time.
“It depends on Jorge and it depends on how long Gilbert wants to wait for Jorge to make up his damn mind. I’m right here. I’m willing to fight. We can go ahead and we can get this done on the MSG card or we can just wait until December, but me and Gilbert could fight before the end of the year. If that’s something Gilbert wants, then I’m right here, I’m ready for it.
Geoff Neal Says He Should Fight Gilbert Burns, NOT Masvidal
Masvidal’s always going to be there, you can wait for that. He’ll probably come out next year, mid-March or something, talking about he wants to fight. But why wait on him when I’m right here? I’m ready to fight.”
Geoff Neal argued that, unlike Masvidal, who is riding a three-fight losing streak, he’s coming off a career highlight. His recent victory over top contender Vicente Luque should, in theory, give Neal the chance to fight elite competition. “I beat Luque and Luque was ranked, what, No. 6, something like that?
And it was a great win. It wasn’t like I barely got through it and he’s one of the most dangerous welterweights. All the finishes he had, he has so many records, I finished the finisher so I feel like I deserve something ahead of me and Gilbert’s the only one that’s available, so that’s why I want to fight him.”
Neal also pointed out that he wants to fight Gilbert Burns specifically because of Burns’ own recent performance against Khamzat Chimaev. Although Burns lost that fight, Neal says that he punctured Chimaev’s aura of invincibility that night while showing his own durability.
“It was exciting, I liked it. He showed that Khamzat is beatable because Khamzat had this aura of invincibility around him. Gilbert showed that he held the line, and even though he lost, he didn’t let Khamzat walk through him.”
Should we see Neal vs Burns before the end of 2022, or will Gilbert Burns stay patient and try to work his way up to another shot at Kamaru Usman, the welterweight champion? Let us know what you think in the comments.
