UFC Welterweight Geoff Neal wants Kevin Holland rematch at 185 pounds

UFC Welterweight contender Geoff Neal has revealed that he’d be willing to face Middleweight star Kevin Holland in a rematch.

Geoff Neal, who faced Kevin Holland back in 2017, suggested that he could move up to the 185-pound weight class for the rematch against Holland. Handz Of Steel also added that they could then do the trilogy fight at 170 pounds.

Geoff Neal lost the first fight to Kevin Holland via TKO

The first fight between Geoff Neal and Kevin Holland took place at Xtreme Knockout 34 in January of 2017. Neal faced Holland at 170 pounds, with the vacant XKO welterweight title on the line.

Handz Off Steel ended up suffering the first, and thus far the only, knockout loss of his professional MMA career in this matchup. Neal lost the fight via a third-round TKO.

Nevertheless, after the aforementioned loss, Geoff Neal has amassed an impressive seven-fight winning streak. Neal's biggest win came in his most recent outing when he defeated fan-favorite Mike Perry via TKO merely 90 seconds into their fight that transpired in December 2019.

GEOFF NEAL ENDS IT IN THE FIRST!!There was just no way this fight wouldn't deliver!That head kick to set up the finish... 😱#UFC245 pic.twitter.com/Y5JYe0Q94x

— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) December 15, 2019

On the other hand, Kevin Holland is now on a five-fight winning streak after having suffered a submission loss last year. Holland has competed five times this year, winning all of them.

Holland’s most recent fight witnessed him secure a first-round KO victory over Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza earlier this month.

THE HYPE IS REAL 😳 #UFC256 pic.twitter.com/WnE011YdNc

— UFC (@ufc) December 13, 2020

Geoff Neal is open to fighting Kevin Holland at middleweight

Geoff Neal has competed in the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions over the course of his career, and so has Kevin Holland. Speaking to The Schmo, Neal opened up on a potential rematch with Holland.

With regard to both him and Kevin Holland rising up the ranks in their current weight classes – Welterweight and Middleweight respectively – Geoff Neal stated:

“Yeah, I know. It (a fight between us) is inevitable, you know what I mean. I even told him, like you know what I mean, ‘I hope you do great’…I want him to win, and I want to win. Because later on down the road maybe we can run it back.”

“Yeah, I’ll go up to 185 (middleweight) and then (if) things go well, he can come back down to 170 (welterweight) and we can do it two times. But I see it happening. He’s doing great. He just knocked out Jacare. If I go out there and knock out Wonderboy, it could be something that could really happen.” (*H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription)

Geoff Neal is set to compete against Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in a Welterweight bout that’ll serve as the main event of UFC Vegas 17 (December 19th, 2020).

Meanwhile, the consensus in the MMA world is that Kevin Holland is likely to face perennial middleweight contender Derek Brunson in his next fight.