Geoff Neal has disclosed his struggles away from the Octagon.
Alongside a bunch of exciting prospects and surging contenders, plenty of veterans still feature within the UFC welterweight rankings.
Among the many division’s old guard who’ve stayed in the combination is Neal, who currently occupies the No. 12 spot at 170 kilos nine years on from his Octagon debut.
A 5-0 begin to life within the UFC has been followed by inconsistency, with ‘Handz of Steel’ losing five of his eight fights since then.
Because it seems, Neal was battling something serious away from the cage as his form inside it plummeted.
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Geoff Neal went into fights ‘out of practice’ because of drug and alcohol addiction
‘Handz of Steel’ last had his hand raised in 2024 against Rafael dos Anjos, which marked his sole win across the last 4 bouts.
Neal was brutally knocked out by Carlos Prates at UFC 319 last August, stopping the Texan from achieving his first winning streak since 2022.
During a recent interview with James Lynch for Home of Fight, the 35-year-old welterweight provided some context behind his struggle to string together wins.
Neal revealed that he has battled drug and alcohol addiction away from the Octagon, something that has affected his physical condition prior to fights.
Things got so bad that he was rarely sober outside of the close lead-up to his UFC fights.
“That is my first time opening up about it, so it’s form of weird,” Neal said.
“I had an issue with addiction: drugs and alcohol. It was rough. It was five years of it. Inside that point, the longest I used to be sober was two weeks, and people two weeks were often before a fight. I’d only decelerate two weeks before the fight.
“I’d come into fights underprepared and out of practice. It was rough,” he added.
Fortunately, Neal has been making good progress along with his recovery and recently passed 100 days of sobriety.
“We did more of a 75 Soft. There have been certain things, just like the reading, I used to be like, ‘F*ck that’. But most of it I did.
“The important thing for me was no drugs and no alcohol, and keeping a comparatively good food regimen. That was the primary thing. The start of 75 Hard was my first day sober. So I’m pushing near 100 days now.
“I’m not keeping track like that because I don’t want it to be a thing where I’m counting days. I would like it to be without end. I would like it to be my lifestyle. I don’t need to take into consideration how long I’ve been sober. I just need to be sober.”
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Geoff Neal will return at UFC Houston
Neal doesn’t have long to attend until his likelihood to bounce back into the UFC win column after his positive progress away from the cage.
The 35-year-old is about to return at UFC Houston on February 21, where a battle with Uros Medic awaits him on the Toyota Center.
Unlike ‘Handz of Steel’, the Serbian 32-year-old has been on a roll. Since getting knocked out by Punahele Soriano, ‘The Doctor’ has won consecutive fights contained in the first round against Gilbert Urbina and Muslim Salikhov.
Medic now has the prospect to take the number next to Neal’s name and start his climb up the welterweight ladder in ‘The Lone Star State’.