Geoff Neal has disclosed his struggles away from the Octagon.
Alongside a host of exciting prospects and surging contenders, a number of veterans still feature in the UFC welterweight rankings.
Among the division’s old guard who have stayed in the mix is Neal, who currently occupies the No. 12 spot at 170 pounds nine years on from his Octagon debut.
A 5-0 start to life in the UFC has been followed by inconsistency, with ‘Handz of Steel’ losing five of his eight fights since then.
As it turns out, Neal was battling something serious away from the cage as his form inside of it plummeted.
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Geoff Neal went into fights ‘out of shape’ due to drug and alcohol addiction
‘Handz of Steel’ last had his hand raised in 2024 against Rafael dos Anjos, which marked his sole win across the last four bouts.
Neal was brutally knocked out by Carlos Prates at UFC 319 last August, preventing the Texan from achieving his first winning streak since 2022.
During a recent interview with James Lynch for Home of Fight, the 35-year-old welterweight provided some context behind his struggle to string together wins.
Neal revealed that he has battled drug and alcohol addiction away from the Octagon, something that has affected his physical condition prior to fights.
Things got so bad that he was rarely sober outside of the close lead-up to his UFC fights.
“This is my first time opening up about it, so it’s kind of weird,” Neal said.
“I had a problem with addiction: drugs and alcohol. It was rough. It was five years of it. Within that time, the longest I was sober was two weeks, and those two weeks were usually before a fight. I would only slow down two weeks before the fight.
“I’d come into fights underprepared and out of shape. It was rough,” he added.
Fortunately, Neal has been making good progress with his recovery and recently passed 100 days of sobriety.
“We did more of a 75 Soft. There were certain things, like the reading, I was like, ‘F*ck that’. But most of it I did.
“The key for me was no drugs and no alcohol, and keeping a relatively good diet. That was the main thing. The beginning of 75 Hard was my first day sober. So I’m pushing close to 100 days now.
“I’m not keeping track like that because I don’t want it to be a thing where I’m counting days. I want it to be forever. I want it to be my lifestyle. I don’t want to think about how long I’ve been sober. I just want to be sober.”
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Geoff Neal will return at UFC Houston
Neal does not have long to wait until his chance to bounce back into the UFC win column after his positive progress away from the cage.
The 35-year-old is set to return at UFC Houston on February 21, where a battle with Uros Medic awaits him at the Toyota Center.
Unlike ‘Handz of Steel’, the Serbian 32-year-old has been on a roll. Since getting knocked out by Punahele Soriano, ‘The Doctor’ has won consecutive fights inside the first round against Gilbert Urbina and Muslim Salikhov.
Medic now has the chance to take the number next to Neal’s name and begin his climb up the welterweight ladder in ‘The Lone Star State’.