It didn’t take long for Ian Machado Garry to get a return date to the octagon.
Garry (13-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) has been booked to fight veteran Geoff Neal at UFC 299, which is set to go down on March 9 in Miami. UFC president Dana White announced the news Saturday following UFC 296 in Las Vegas.
Garry was scheduled to face Vicente Luque on the main card of UFC 296, but was forced to withdraw Wednesday after falling ill with pneumonia. Now, a few days later, he’s got a new date and opponent for his return. White didn’t reveal why the promotion didn’t keep the booking with Luque.
Garry and Neal (15-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) have history. They were previously booked to fight at UFC 292 in August, but Neal had to pull out of the fight and was replaced by Neil Magny, whom Garry beat in a dominant unanimous decision win. In the build up to the event, Garry wore a t-shirt with the mugshot of Neal, causing a stir online.
The Irishman is undefeated in his MMA career and is regarded as one of the more promising contenders at 170 pounds. On the other hand, Neal, a veteran of the game, is looking to build back to title contention, as he last fought in March when he was submitted by Shavkat Rakhmonov. Prior to that, Neal had back-to-back wins over Luque and Santiago Ponzinibbio.
With the addition, the UFC 299 fight card includes:
- Champion Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera – for bantamweight title
- Gilbert Burns vs. Jack Della Maddalena
- Jailton Almeida vs. Curtis Blaydes
- Ian Machado Garry vs. Geoff Neal
- Song Yadong vs. Petr Yan
- Pedro Munhoz vs. Kyler Phillips
- Asu Almabaev vs. CJ Vergara
- Maycee Barber vs. Katlyn Chookagian
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. Mateusz Gamrot
- Lauren Murphy vs. Karine Silva
- Kevin Holland vs. Michael Page
Stolen from a mod
Great card! I think Neal wins
Luque and Neal were previously scheduled to hook ‘em up at UFC 292 earlier this year in Boston, but “Handz of Steel” was injured and bounced from the lineup. That didn’t prevent Garry from keeping their rivalry alive and well via this controversial t-shirt.
Neal was replaced by Neil Magny, who dropped a decision to Garry in “Beantown.”
UFC 299 will be headlined by the bantamweight rematch between newly-crowned 135-pound champion Sean O’Malley and longtime rival Marlon Vera. Elsewhere on the card, heavyweight hurters Jailton Almeida vs. Curtis Blaydes do battle at 265 pounds.
The rebooked matchup between Ian Garry and Geoff Neal has a new date and location.
After UFC CEO Dana White initially announced the welterweight bout for March’s UFC 299 in Miami, the clash between Garry (13-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and Neal (15-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) has been shifted to UFC 298, which takes place Feb. 17 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., with a main card on pay-per-view following prelims expected on ESPN and ESPN.
White announced the change of date Thursday on social media among a flurry of other fight announcements (via X):
If Geoff doesn’t have a shirt made of Ian watching his wife get pounded I’m going to lose all respect for the man.
RAN into Luque in Vegas he was pretty heart broken about Ian pulling out. Very nice guy
RAN into Luque in Vegas he was pretty heart broken about Ian pulling out.
Is someone trolling bringing up all these old post the last few days?