Geoff Neal revealed on Sunday that he had been hospitalized for several days in a life-as-death situation, which of course forced him to drop out of his upcoming fight against Neil Magny on August 29.
In his place comes former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler, who has agreed to oppose Magny at upcoming card game to be held at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
Several sources close to the situation confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Sunday following an initial report from MMA DNA.
Neal took to Instagram to detail his recent medical scare just a matter of days after she agreed with Magny in August.
‘It’s really hard to find a benevolent way to say’ I’m almost dead. “That screwed it up. I almost died,” Neal wrote. ‘This has put a lot of things in perspective for me. I never thought I would be connected to a dialysis machine before my 30s.
‘Everything went well for me. Was training every day, earning money at work, just signed a contract for an enormous fight, then BOOM, life hit me with a check. I’m just happy to be home after spending 1 week in the ICU. Stay healthy and always listen to your body. ”
With Neal sidelined, Lawler accepted the fight on short notice.
The former champion has not fought since August 2019, when he dropped his third fighter in a row through a unanimous decision to Colby Covington, but he had recently sought to return to action when the opportunity arose.
Now he will look to get back on course as he clashes with Magny, who has won back-to-back fights against Anthony Rocco Martin and Li Jingliang.
The upcoming UFC event on August 29 is still without a major event, after Yair Rodriguez suffered an injury in training that knocked him out of his planned fight against Zabit Magomedsharipov. At the moment there is no word on who will copy the show.
