Though he turns 35 towards the end of the month, the typically soft-spoken Texan generally doesn’t think about his age, outside of understanding that he can’t just stroll into the gym and hustle right out onto the mats without stretching anymore.
“I forget that I’m 34; other people remind me,” said Neal when asked if his approaching birthday creates a sense of urgency heading into Saturday night’s clash with Prates at United Center. “For some reason, when people ask me how old I am, I wanna be like, ‘I’m 28, 29,’ that’s the first thing that wants to come out of my mouth.
WATCH: UFC 319 Embedded
“Age is age,” he continued. “I have some soreness in my back sometimes when I wake up, so I just have to make sure my recovery is good and I warm up a lot.
“The younger guys will turn up 10 minutes before practice, jump on the mat, and go at it. I understand I’m getting up there, so I turn up 30 minutes before, but I’ve done that my whole career; now it’s just more imperative that I do that.”