How How Geoff Neal got into the UFC ｜ LFA Fights).mp4Geoff Neal got into the UFC LFA Fights

e CHRISTOPHER ANTHONY, FIVE NIAEL AT THREE AND ONE. NIAEL PREDICTED A FIRST ROUND TKO VICTORY. YOU READY? FUNDING CHAMPIONSHIP 32 HERE on AXS TV, Michael Chiavello, Pat Miletic with you. Salpour stance on Jeff Neal. You may see some switching from Christopher Anthony. And Anthony seems to be circling right into that left hand of Neal. What Anthony wants to do here against Salpour is to work his right hand down the tube. Goes for a high right round kick, there's the right hand, it connects early on. Neal backs him against the cage, chance for the knees here. That's a knee from Anthony. Right to the quad. Two very strong individuals. Gut-munching knee from Anthony. What's Neal looking to do here, Pat? Well, he's doing a good job controlling inside for the most part, or was. And doing a good job with head positioning, that's why he won most of that battle. Left hand down the center corridor, little slip. Inside leg kick, a nice one from Neal. Now you see the switch here on Anthony, he's now fighting Salpour as well. He will go back to orthodox. And there it is, back to orthodox stance. You gotta have a lot of practice at Salpour if you're gonna switch, wow. Jumping front kick, nicely executed from Anthony. And as Neal, when you're taking the guy on short notice, especially a guy that's obviously a great athlete, you gotta be very careful with a guy like this because you haven't prepared for it. The problem I see here though with Anthony, carries his hands a little low and props his chin in the air, Pat. That can always end up in demise. Body shot meets round kick to the body. Anthony leaned into that right hand dangerously. Gotta tuck the chin here, big Christopher Anthony. Still controlling center cage, step up knee from Neal. Good short left hook from Neal, nice knee to the liver. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Neal saying it hit the groin. I thought it hit the liver. Unless the lower part of the shin, maybe the top of the ankle actually collected the groin. We'll take a look at it in a moment. I'm sure the guys in the truck will show us. They love themselves a good groin shot in the truck there, Pat. Here it goes. Yeah, was a little south of the border. Here's the thing, you gotta protect yourself still, even though you've been, that's what can happen if you don't. So Neal taking a knee downstairs. Gets a moment to recover. Been a good fight so far for Christopher Anthony. It was unintentional, of course. And we recommence here in the first round. Five and two Anthony, three and one Neal. Neal in the green and white Hayabusa trucks. Nice counter kick there from Anthony. Jump walking left hand, barrage of punches, flying knee from Neal. Looked good, didn't connect though. Nice little flurry though, gotta admit. Big upper body on Jeff Neal. Long, lean, sinewy body on Christopher Anthony. Anthony's gotta quit backing straight up. You gotta sidestep, get out of the way of this kid and come back with your counters. Outside leg kick, Neal, straight down the center, inside a half guard, now on the floor. Nice power on that takedown. Snatch the leg and then form across the throat. Low on one side, high on the other and dump him. Neal will look for the control here on the ground. Anthony does prefer the striking. Gotta dig that right elbow inside. He's trying to put his hand in there. Don't get a whole lot of leverage like that with your limb extended, your elbow out. Not lining up the bones for power. From his previous fights, we've seen Jeff Neal does favor the rear naked choke. We'll see if he can take the back of Anthony. He's almost there, now he's there. This could be the beginning. Jeff Neal's specialty, the rear naked. One mistake Anthony made when he tried to roll him, he did not protect against the mount. Something you always have to pay attention to, that particular position. A stand up belong to Anthony, the ground game so far. It's a Jeff Neal. Look at him stripping that hand off of there. For the arm triangle. Back in top position. Looks for the left hand as Neal. Better get wrist control and keep it, because of that. Up kicks coming from Anthony perhaps. Neal's gotta watch them. Don't want somebody controlling your legs like this. Neal doesn't want Anthony on his feet. He wants to go back down there and try and work some ground and pound. And he does that inside a half guard. He plowed him with the left hand. Nice short right from Neal. Trying to control the posture Anthony to no avail. Big left hand again from Neal. Chest in the chin, takes the back once more of Anthony. Anthony wasn't able to get his hips out. Get shard back here, gave up his back. Still looking for that arm triangle again. And Neal full mount with 15 seconds on the clock. Takes the back for maybe a third time. Won't have time to find the choke though. Anthony, no place to go. This is how the round will probably end. Oh, he's gonna let him up. Short flurry there from Neal. He lost the opening portion of the round, but he brought it home strongly for the latter half. Most certainly did, Michael. Little late. And we're both in sound poor stance. Good step across inside thigh kick from Neal to open up the round. Jab leading to a straight left cross. Front kick. Orthodox back to sound poor, back to orthodox for Anthony. Continuing to switch stance here. High on the balls of his feet is Neal. And a high left round kick, nicely done. Just pops the head back with that jab. Like to see Neal stay in there, in the pocket. Does a very good job in tight. Counter to the inside thigh kick. That's what you should do. Straight right hand. Racking round kick to the rib cage from Anthony. Trying to pull the head down. Neal didn't want to go there. Gets underneath the left hand from Neal. Loading up on that one. Step through knee, belly button through the back from big Chris Anthony. Flick kick. Plowing left, doubles up in it. Single leg takedown from Neal. Drives him to the canvas. Kept that leg as long as he needed to. Neal inside the guard of Anthony. Anthony stuck his foot on the cage to maneuver himself. And when you do that, your leg's there. It's low. You can step over it. And Neal recognized it. Went right over to half guard. Looking to go full mount here on Anthony. He did achieve a full mount in the opening round, Jeff Neal. Wants to get that back. Wants to sink that choke. Needed to just stand up there. He had the head on the outside single. He's got to get moving. Dump that hip. Keep it there. Now on his back is Neal. Side control for Anthony. Doesn't last for long, however. Neal bench pressed him. Inside a half guard. Good view of it there for Christopher Anthony. Forearm across the throat here from Anthony. Got to get that right knee in a little bit tighter. Get it into the hip. You see how Neal was putting the arm around the back of the neck to control Anthony. Not allowing him to posture up and work. And he ground and pound from a half guard. Yeah, now he's walking him out here. He knows that hook's underneath his neck. So until that arm releases, he knows Anthony isn't going to raise up. Now see how he moves to get out of the way of that punch. He knew it was coming. Choke attempt here maybe for Christopher Anthony. Looks to take the back of Neal. Good maneuvering. Good. And he gets there. Christopher Anthony's turn. Can he sink a choke on Jeff Neal back? Well, he's trying to get his right hand free. Neal was clamping down on that. Is this it? Trying to strip that top hand off. Anthony working for the choke. Got plenty of time here. Needs to flatten him out. Can't let him stand up or pop his hips. Neal surviving. He's focused on the choke instead of position here. And that's why he's going to lose position. Anthony is just dripping with perspiration. Neal back to his feet. Need to fix the tape on his gloves. Body shot. Jab two from Neal. And they will indeed cut the tape or rip it off. That's from the wraps, not the gloves. Okay. Yeah, you can't let them fight with the cage door open. Neal showing resilience. Took the first round, 10-9, unofficially announced scorecard. Front kick to the midsection from Christopher Anthony. Anthony's got to get to work here now. Land some big shots. Take this round back. Almost a shot to the groin there from Neal. Stung him with that. Nice jab two from Neal. Something's bugging Anthony. He's hurt. Oh, he could. A shot to the jugular. Spinning backfist, but the fist was nowhere near the jaw there from Neal. It was an odd one. Final 10 seconds of the second round. We'll try and get a glimpse of Christopher Anthony's corner between rounds here in all part of Legacy 32 from here at the Horseshoe Casino in Bossier City, just over the Red River from Shreveport. Beautiful left cross there to open up the round from Neal. High left round kick from Neal. No switch. Trying to time the attack coming in. Jump right hand from Anthony. Oh, uppercut superbly. Rocks the head back. Neal with the combinations and gets out of dodge. Oh! Neal with a takedown. Nicely done. Tremendous strength. You can get overconfident with those underhooks and walk people backwards and get thrown. The man's built like a Mack truck, Jeff Neal. As Anthony looks for a takedown. Goes from a single to a double leg here, Anthony. Neal recognized it right away. Split his legs apart. So Anthony couldn't lock his hands on that takedown. Inside leg kick. Look at that femoral profunda. Drops down for a double, does Neal. Elbow strikes to the clavicle there from Anthony. Got a hold of that ankle. Gonna yank that out from underneath him. Anthony trying to keep wrist control here. Anthony gotta get moving, get position here. Some swelling over the left eye of Christopher Anthony. Neal just looking to advance his position. He's mounted Anthony in both rounds so far. He was actually better with his leg behind. Kind of hard to explain now, but really get your guy, your bottom man in a lot of trouble. Either take their back or go to the mount. Comments from the super coach, Pat Miletic. Body shot from Neal inside the closed guard of Anthony. We're almost halfway through the third and final. Looking to posture up is Neal. Anthony a little longer in the torso, giving Neal a little bit of problems. Having trouble posturing up right now. Closes the guard again, does Anthony. Referee gives him a slap and a tickle, and says stand up. Anthony takes a knee to that sternum. Jumping knee. Anthony jumps. Both men trading the aerial tactics. High left round was caught by Neal. Drops down for a double, switches to a single. Anthony, all he had to do was circle out of that. Instead he dropped or lost his balance. Wow. Had that underhook, could have kept circling. There's the arm triangle attack, not keeping his head on the mat though. Neal looking to pass, to go to the left side of the body of Anthony. Tight, driving that shoulder into the jaw. Turning his face away from what's going on. Under 90 seconds remains. We've got a two rounds to a big goose egg in favor of Jeff Neal. Nice job working his way to the mount. Takes the back here of Anthony. How Neal would love a submission on his record for this one. Get a little bit high here. Looks to set that choke again. Anthony's got under a minute to survive here. To find an escape and somehow swing the pendulum. You just get the feeling it's not going to happen though for Christopher Anthony. Trying to get himself turned here. Corner of Anthony screaming for him to find a way to his feet. Now they're screaming, get the elbows, crack into the jaw. You've got to find a knockout. Yep, got to posture up and let him fly here. It looks like it'll be Jeff Neal's fight. Unless Anthony can find a Hail Mary shot on the ground in ten seconds. He tries it via a hammer fist and an elbow. It's not going to be enough though for Christopher Anthony. Three hard-fought rounds of action deserve a big round of applause. We go to the judges scorecards. All three judges scored the fight the same, 29-28. For your winner by unanimous decision, Jeff Hanson Steele Neal. Jeff Steele Neal with Alex Black in his corner. Takes his fourth professional victory and Anthony indeed does fall to five and three. All right guys, you give me your instructions in the back. Protect yourselves at all times and follow my instructions all the time. Touch gloves, let's do this. Joe Solis, the final instructions. Will Neal try to take it to the ground as soon as he takes the power in the legs of Ontiveros? Will Ontiveros's ego get the better of him? Will he try and take Neal down and prove that he's been improving his training on the ground? Look out for the roundhouse kicks here of Ontiveros and he gets them going. There's a side kick from Charlie early on. You know the dangerous thing about guys that throw kicks as well as Charlie Ontiveros does, when you move laterally like you like to in most fights, you can be moving into a spinning technique that can just put your lights out. You've got to be very careful. Like a typical taekwondo learner, Charlie Ontiveros always switching stance. Taekwondo fighters constantly switch. You'll see that here from Ontiveros. Again, you see he switches from orthodox to southpaw. Back to orthodox now. Neal on the outside, moving well in the early get-go. Now Ontiveros does carry his hands a little low, his chin a little high. Neal did say Ontiveros is open for overhands. Neal's got to figure out how to get inside those kicks. Ivan Tiveros going to use a lot of feints and fakes, get Charlie to throw something and then get inside. Watch the low kicks, watch the low kicks. Snappy jab from the southpaw Neal. Jeff does have a good jab, I will say that. Quick. Ontiveros evades the hook, puts herself in Jeff Neal's position. He just got dropped on the rear end and now he's got his name right now and fighting out of a submission out of instinct. That's hard. I'm going to say that that Neal is easier to scull than Ontiveros. Ah, a little bit. Single leg here from Neal. Out of trouble momentarily. Switches to a double leg. Big tight down coming! Ontiveros going for a ride! Neal slams him! Sent for the cage, didn't quite have the effect he was looking for though. And Ontiveros has smiled. Charlie took some of that power from him by locking around the waist and stretching his body out. Inside the guard of Ontiveros now. Two minutes remaining. First of three. Back and forth context. Ontiveros smacks the taste out of his mouth with an elbow. That was quick. Neal doing a quick count of his teeth. He comes forward. Looks to posture up with that right hand. Yep, step over that leg. Nice. Charlie turning on his side. Take the low side and go. Looks to pass to side control. Gets there now. Cuts the hip in. Neal. Charlie at an extreme disadvantage here now. With the powerful, more stocky Neal cross sides on him. He's got that heel lock started but let go of it right away. While Charlie Ontiveros said yesterday I'm no longer as intimidated about the ground game as I used to be. He's now got Neal on top of him inside the half guard. Yeah, ground changes depending on the guy that's on top of you. Now that guy has almost melted him. Switches back to side control. This time on the right side of the body. Charlie getting himself in trouble. There's a choke happening right now. Oh. Trying to take the back of Neal. Didn't work for him. They're back to their feet in tango. Neal looking for the takedown. Backs Charlie up against the cage. Big stallion of a 23-year-old Charlie Ontiveros. Gotta find a way to create some room here. Charlie to work his strike. Between the eyes of Ontiveros with the right hand here, Neal. Ontiveros is smiling and enjoying your commentary, Michael. Nice knee to the inside thigh from Neal. Keep working, keep working. Ontiveros gotta move his feet, get off the cage. Neal doing a great job jacking that underhook up. Final 10 seconds of this first round. Both men have had their opportunities to capitalize. Spin it back over. Nice. And Neal just gives Ontiveros' teeth a bit of a clean before the bound. Referee Solis gets this underway. Southpaw versus Southpaw at the moment. Though Ontiveros will switch. Inside leg kick from Neal. Look at that femoral profunda. Here's Ontiveros gonna pull the trigger on that left leg. That highly gifted left leg. The inside thigh. He gets a good jab from Ontiveros. Overhand right from Charlie. Neal thought he could catch him with that overhand left. Almost clipped him with that. Looks for a takedown, Neal. Charlie pressed up against the cage. Single leg now from Neal. Do something with that single leg. Don't hang out. Waste your energy. Put a circle with it. Keep him moving. Got him locked up in the double now. Good power again. Back elbow from Charlie. Tries to rattle the ears of Neal for the takedown. Looks to take the back ear of Ontiveros and start to work for a choke. That's where wrist control is really important. Neal reaching for it. Gonna pull that into him. There you go. That's the way to do it. You can break him down here. Charlie can turn and get out. Side control to Neal. Hammers away with the right hand. Good position here for Jeff Neal. Charlie's making a mistake with that right arm. He's reaching up instead of cutting across the neck with his forearm on Neal. He's leaving that arm hanging out like that. Really getting himself in a lot of trouble with that. He can't even turn over. Ontiveros turns it around. Now it's Charlie in side control. How did he get there? We don't know, but it looks good. Ontiveros cuts those hinges. He just sat up. Neal got himself out of position. Leg lock coming. Neal with a hard tap. Did he tap? One of the judges said this to us. Did he tap as well? Referee hasn't seen it. You do not let go of a submission until that guy screams and gets up. And the referee jumps in and stops. Did Ontiveros check? This is a controversy. Nice trick takedown from Neal. I guarantee Neal is... I'm just going to say it. He's pissed off right now. One of the judges sitting near us made the motion that he saw Ontiveros tap. Pat, you saw Ontiveros tap. We're going to look at the replay soon. We've got just under two minutes remaining in this round. It's Neal back inside control. The question is, did Charlie Ontiveros tap? Got to pay attention. This is where he's got to keep position. He's getting himself out of position on top. I'd be delivering elbows a lot right now. Full mount now from Neal. Balor tries to back him up. It's not happening for Ontiveros. He's in trouble here, Charlie. Charlie got to get moving or tie him up, one or the other. Because he's going to take a beat if he doesn't. Big Blood Cage is measuring him. Plants him like a tree with that elbow. Goes to the top lip here, Neal. In full mount. Ontiveros nowhere to go. Ontiveros, the man with two lives. He may have already tapped earlier in the round. But the referee didn't see it. And now, Neal wants to put a shellacking on him. Slice and dozen for late Charlie with those elbows. Another one for Jeff Neal. He's putting it on him now. And I guarantee you, that's a lot of attitude from that tap that didn't stop the fight. He's punishing Charlie Ontiveros. Ontiveros has got to get off his back. He might give up his back. Ontiveros! Looks to turn it around. But now, Cage is back to Neal. Half a minute remaining. Look at Choke Charles. Look at Choke Charlie. Can Charlie hold on for 20 seconds? No choke there. Yeah, it's not tight yet. An amazing second round. You're going to see the footage in a moment. The replay of the legend tap. We are going to go to the end here. Good work, you guys. End of the round. No start for the fight. Referee of the Doctor there with Ontiveros. Fight has been stopped, folks. Ontiveros on his stall here. Being tended to by the ringside Doctor. Is it a broken, busted orbital here, maybe? For Ontiveros. There's a hematoma under that left eye. He might have busted his cheek here. Busted his orbital. Or his jaw. He's having problems with his jaw. He took a lot of elbows, man. He's hurting. Have a listen. They kind of removed the mouth guard here. The gum shield of Ontiveros. He's in so much pain. Jaw's broken. All right, gentlemen. I want you to obey my commands at all times. I want you to touch gloves. Go back to your corners. I'll call you out. According to MMAoddsbreaker.com and Nick Kalikas, the money coming in late on Jeff Neal. He was a minus 115 favorite. That has gone up to minus 180. Bilal Williams plus 140. Two big men that love to strike. This one should be fun. These guys sparred with each other six weeks ago. Before they knew that they were going to be fighting each other. Bilal said he went to his gym for an open mat. To Jeff's gym for an open mat. So Jeff knocked him around a little bit. But he said that I didn't want to come in and get cocky and go crazy in his gym. First time there, things like that. So he said, I think that as Jeff Neal is going to come in overconfident. And I think he basically felt that that would play to his favor. Absolutely. Williams said that he feels someone is going to get knocked out in this fight. Jeff Neal, the legacy product two and oh. Williams, he's fought some tough competition too, Pat. His opponent win-loss record, 64 up and 50 down. Whips on that one and Neal counters. Good job getting out of the way and coming right back. Just didn't turn the hips over. And you just have the feeling this one could end in just spectacular fashion. Bilal's hands down, chin up. Boy, that style just makes me nervous. Neal, the strong southpaw striker. He's also a blue belt in BJJ. I mean, Williams said his game plan is simple. As Neal attacks again, strike and move is what Williams told us. Nice rear leg to the liver. Williams with the uppercut and Neal capitalizes. Impressive strikers here. They went 10 and 1 as an amateur. Five first round finishes before turning 6 and 2 now, and he's moving in on Williams. High kick just misses the target. You know, a guy that moves his head as well as Neal does, you've got to use a lot, I mean, you should anyway, fundamentally use a lot of things and fakes and get people moving and flinching to things that aren't even coming at him. Bilal not doing that really a whole lot. Every time he throws something, it's for real. Through this first round, scheduled for three in the LFA welterweight division. Neal really countered well, and he pushed Williams back too. Neal circling. That's what he said he wanted to do, but this one will be a war of attrition. He thinks all fighters will be extremely exhausted after this fight. Jeff Neal going at the same time as Bilal, trying to catch him, moved his head on the way in. Smart. The way he's circling around. Right straight, just gets through. Nice. Big combination from Neal. Williams is in trouble. Jeff Neal teeing off on Williams now. Wow, wow, wow. And now Neal falls out. Oh my goodness. Look at this. Can Williams capitalize on this? Bilal needs to get position and not worry about that submission. It was so, so much after the neck that forgot about position, and now Jeff coming back with a nice takedown. Interesting point there. Neal looked like he had Williams hurt. Looked like? You're saying he was, okay. Yeah, no gray area there. Easy for me to say though here sitting K-side. Under a minute to go. Look at Jeff Neal grabbing Bilal's throat. That is legal as long as you don't squeeze the windpipe. Jeff Neal, three wins by way of TKO. Likes this position. Williams hanging on trying to keep Neal close to him, but the power of Jeff Neal gets up, and I think he's, yes, indeed, says let's start this thing on its feet. Jeff Neal's striking is really crisp. Oh, what a combination. Wow. Bilal Williams is out. Spectacular knockout from Jeff Neal. Wow. Talk about legs coming up from underneath somebody. He just collapsed straight down. What an impressive way to end this fight, and Williams is on his back. Williams still hurt from the previous shots that he took. Pat, you just called it saying Jeff Neal's striking is on point tonight. Yeah, great head movement, footwork. Feints and fakes, great counters. Getting out of the way of Bilal Williams, and also something that very few MMA guys do, throwing at the same time as his opponent when they come at you. Look, move your head offline, make sure you're covering your ass, and then let go at the same time, and you'll catch people coming in a lot of times. He's got good instincts. He's been coached well. Another one of those Fortis MMA fighters from Saif Saad. Saif Saad might actually know what he's doing. Yeah, I know a few things. Good to see Bilal Williams up on his feet. We check it out, Pat. Bilal taking a shot here. And that didn't look like a lot there on the chin. He had been rocked before that, so it doesn't take a whole lot. There's the left right on the jaw. He was already hurt. Probably not real sure where he was at, to be honest with you, before he got hit with these shots. You can see the legs just go out, just the wires get crossed. You can see that impact. Nice little stinging uppercut. That wasn't a huge, huge punch there. He just didn't see it coming. Like I said, he was already hurt. Doesn't take a lot more. Nice win for Hands of Steel, back into the LFA Octagon to make it official. Ladies and gentlemen, your referee, Aladdin Martinez, calls the stop to the fight. In four minutes, 43 seconds into the first round, for your winner by knockout, Jeff Hands of Steel Neal. Jeff Neal had a tough task tonight. He passed it impressively, improves to seven and two, and he's standing by with Phoenix. Hands of Steel, very appropriate nickname. You guys had sparred actually just a couple of weeks before. Did that give you confidence going into this fight? Not really. We only sparred for a three-minute round, just one. It wasn't really enough time to see what we both had, so I didn't feel I'd have no problem sparring him or fighting him today. You did walk into this fight very confident. How are you feeling right now? I feel great, you know. I mean, I expected to win, you know, but now it's here and it happened, so I feel amazing. Did you expect to win by knockout? Yeah. Yeah, of course. Now, what are you looking forward to for your future? A couple more fights, hopefully get in the UFC and be a UFC champion. Fantastic. Very impressive win this evening. Thank you so much. Jeff Neal improves to seven and two. Nice work from that young man tonight.