Ian Machado Garry came out relatively unscathed against the man who bloodied current champ Belal Muhammad.
The Irish welterweight contender was on the brink of a UFC title shot in his last fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov, losing his undefeated record by decision in the co-headliner of UFC 310 last December.
Ian Machado Garry started off his UFC career at a perfect 8-0, rising through the rankings pretty quickly with wins over Daniel Rodriguez and Neil Magny before being granted a top-10 contender in Geoff Neal at UFC 298.
Nicknamed ‘Handz of Steel’, Neal has 10 KO’s on his record, having knocked out the likes of BKFC superstar Mike Perry (the first fighter to do so) and Vicente Luque in violent fashion.
The win’s that aged the best for Neal is a thrashing of UFC Welterweight Champion Belal Muhammad, which we’ll get to in a minute.
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Ian Machado Garry outpointed Geoff Neal to controversial decision
In Feb. 2024, the Irishman fought under a new name in ‘Machado’ Garry but his fighting style remained the same, very methodical in his striking approach against the dangerous boxing game of Neal.
Machado Garry was a constant moving target for Neal, who held his own on the feet across three rounds. It was a super-competitive fight between both men with Neal landing decent shots in the opening round.
Machado Garry mixed in his shots well, tagging Neal with kicks to the body and knees up the middle, doing better the longer the fight went.
Neal did rack up almost four minutes of control time from the clinch but it wasn’t enough to secure the boxer the victory as Machado Garry narrowly outlanded him in every round.
The 13-0 Machado Garry was awarded the split decision win after three rounds with one judge scoring the first two rounds for Neal.
Belal Muhammad was almost KO’ed by Geoff Neal in last loss
Geoff Neal put one of the best performances of his career against Belal Muhammad in Jan. 2019, back when both fighters were unranked in the welterweight division.
Neal quickly found a home for his punches and kept Muhammad on the back foot in the opening round. Muhammad pressed forward in the second round, eating a number of jabs and counters from Neal.
At the end of round 2, Muhammad was nearly finished and his face looked like he had just been through a five-round war, battered and bloodied from Neal’s attacks. Multiple cuts were on the nose and under both eyes of Muhammad.
Still, Muhammad fought on and somehow survived a hellish final round.
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Defending Muhammad’s takedown attempts well, Neal rocked Muhammad with a right hand and a left hand that sent him to the canvas.
“That left hand was a piston,” UFC commentator Daniel Cormier.
“Holy smokes that was fast.
Muhammad eventually found his way back up to his feet only to get wobbled by a beautiful headkick by Neal that sent him down again.
Covered in blood, the UFC Welterweight Champion’s heart could not be questioned as he stood up and continued to press forward, clipping Neal with punches of his own until the final bell sounded.
Geoff Neal earned the unanimous decision victory and even a 30-26 scorecard with one judge scoring round 3 a 10-8 for ‘Handz of Steel’.
Belal Muhammad hasn’t lost since, capturing the UFC welterweight title from Leon Edwards last summer. He is currently on a 11-fight unbeaten streak at 170lbs and set to face Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC 315 on May 10th.
As for Ian Machado Garry, the #7-ranked contender is matched up with Carlos Prates in the UFC Kansas City headliner next Saturday.
