Youngblood clashing with a veteran gatekeeper. Time and time again such fights have taken place in the UFC. Sometimes the up-and-coming fighter beats the veteran (like Shavkat beat Neal Magny), and other times the veteran manages to outclass the new prospect (like Beneil Dariush beat Mateusz Gamrot)

Shavkat Rakhmonov vs Geoff Neal was shaping up to be such a fight and fans were eager to see who would come out of the fight victorious. ‘Nomad’ currently has a 4-0 record for the UFC none of which went to the decision. Naturally, it seemed like many top fighters were reluctant to lose their place by taking on the young blood.

Geoff ‘Handz of Steel’ Neal is coming off consecutive wins against Santiago Ponzinibbio and Vicente Luque. So the fighter naturally had a high level of confidence. Finally, when everyone was turning the young prospect down, Neal stood up to the occasion and took the fight like a man.

2023 was starting off strong for the MMA world following the success of the Bellator vs Rizin event and fans were hyping up for the next big fights to come. Unfortunately, the first UFC fight card of the year, UFC Vegas 67 to be held on January 14th lost one of it’s most anticipated cards.

Not yet in 2023….and here is some bad news for the first event already. Geoff Neal is OUT of his scheduled fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov on January 14th at #UFCVegas67. (first rep. @ILazorin)

— Marcel Dorff 🇳🇱🇮🇩 (@BigMarcel24) December 29, 2022

The ‘Nomad’ previously went on a 12-fight undefeated streak under the Russian M-1 promotion. The Kazakh was naturally unhappy with the pullout as staying inactive could affect his performance in a negative manner.

You have my respect. See you soon 👊🏼

— Shavkat “Nomad” Rakhmonov (@Rakhmonov1994) October 7, 2022

Show up then 🤫

— Shavkat “Nomad” Rakhmonov (@Rakhmonov1994) December 29, 2022

Apparently @handzofsteelmma is all talk

— Shavkat “Nomad” Rakhmonov (@Rakhmonov1994) December 29, 2022

Later Bryan Barberena called out the Kazakh to settle some unfinished scores that they couldn’t settle previously through a quick matchup at 180 pounds. Shavkat responded positively.

Why not, let’s do it for the fans 👊🏼

— Shavkat “Nomad” Rakhmonov (@Rakhmonov1994) December 30, 2022

Geoff Neals’s injury is still undisclosed leading to many speculating if the fighter actually chickened out from fighting the ‘Nomad’. However, it seems like Geoff still wants this fight and will take on Rakhmonov on UFC 285.