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):
Fight announcements:
Feb 17th, #UFC298
Feb 24th, #UFCMexico
March 30th, #UFCAtlanticCity
April 13th, #UFC300 pic.twitter.com/vcJYI3rekl— danawhite (@danawhite) December 22, 2023
Garry was scheduled to face Vicente Luque on the main card of UFC 296 this month, 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.
The latest UFC 298 lineup now includes:
- Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria – for featherweight title
- Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili
- Paulo Costa vs. Robert Whittaker
- Ian Garry vs. Geoff Neal
- Amanda Lemos vs. Tatiana Suarez
- Tai Tuivasa vs. Marcin Tybura
- Ikram Aliskerov vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Andrea Lee vs. Miranda Maverick
- Marcos Rogerio vs. Justin Tafa
- Brady Hiestand vs. Rinya Nakamura
- Zhang Mingyang vs. Brendson Ribeiro
- Oban Elliott vs. Val Woodburn
- Danny Barlow vs. Yusaku Kinoshita
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.
