Stephen Thompson

Geoff “Handz of Steel” Neal, 30, is looking forward to earning his sixth consecutive win in the Ultimate Fighting Championship before 2020 ends. Fighting out of Harker Heights, Texas, United States, the African-American mixed martial artist is set to fight Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, 37, of Simpsonville, South Carolina, USA at “UFC Fight Night 183,” which is also called “UFC on ESPN+ 41” and “UFC Vegas 17.”

Featuring 12 MMA bouts, “UFC Vegas 17” will take place at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on December 19, 2020. In the main event of the evening, Neal and Thompson will battle it out in the welterweight division.

Thompson and Neal are fifth and 11th, respectively, among the contenders in the current UFC welterweight division ranking. The two have equal chances of winning, according to recent UFC Vegas 17 odds.

Fighting professionally since 2010, Thompson joined the UFC in 2012. He currently holds a professional MMA record of 15 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw and he is coming out of a unanimous decision victory over Vicente “The Silent Assassin” Luque, 29, of Brasilia, Federal District, Brazil at “UFC 244” on November 2, 2019.

“UFC Vegas 17” marks Thompson’s 16th fight in the UFC. It will be Neal’s sixth outing in the promotion.

Winning at “UFC Vegas 17” will not be an easy task for Thompson. While he has more experiences in the UFC than Neal, the latter has proven his skills by beating all of his opponents in the promotion from 2018 to 2019.

Geoff Neal, Chris Tognoni

Neal has been undefeated since 2017 and he made his UFC debut in 2018. Fighting professionally since 2012, he is holding a professional MMA record of 13 wins and 2 losses.

On July 25, 2017, Neal knocked out Chase Waldon, 34, of River Falls, Wisconsin, USA in “Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series” Season 1 episode 3. When Neal made his UFC debut at “UFC Fight Night 126” on February 18, 2018, he submitted Brian “The Mantis” Camozzi, 29, of Parker, Colorado, USA.

After knocking out Frank “The Crank” Camacho, 31, of Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands at “UFC 228” on September 8, 2018, Neal defeated Belal “Remember the Name” Muhammad, 32, of Chicago, Illinois, USA via unanimous decision at “UFC Fight Night 183” on January 19, 2019. Before facing Thompson at “UFC Vegas 17,” Neal knocked out Niko “The Hybrid” Price, 31, of Cape Coral, Florida, USA at “UFC 240” on July 27, 2019 and Mike “Platinum” Perry, 29, of Altamonte Springs, Florida at “UFC 245” on December 14, 2019.