Geoff Neal has been forced to withdraw from UFC 292 for “undisclosed medical reasons,” his rep told MMA Fighting on Wednesday after his scheduled opponent, Ian Machado Garry, posted a video purporting to confirm the withdrawal.
Garry cursed Neal in the video and appeared to suggest a fight with Neil Magny, the fighter he called out after his most recent victory, as a replacement opponent for the Aug. 19 pay-per-view in Boston.
“Geoff Neal is a b****,” Garry said in the video posted to his Twitter account. “What is God showing me right now? Is this God giving me what I initially asked for?”
Magny welcomed the matchup after Garry’s callout, but the Irish star’s fight with Neal was already booked. Garry took several shots at Geoff online, most prominently wearing a t-shirt with the Texas native’s mugshot from a DWI and weapons charge from 2021.
On Wednesday, Magny posted a picture on Instagram that showed him signing what appeared to be a contract with the caption: “When an opportunity of a lifetime presents itself, my must act within the lifetime of that opportunity.”
The Garry vs. Neal fight was scheduled for the pay-per-view portion of the Aug. 19 card at TD Garden. UFC 292 is headlined by a bantamweight title fight between champ Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley.