Geoff Neal really wants to fight Michael Chiesa.
Neal has called out the veteran several times in the past; however, Chiesa has respectfully declined the welterweight's request for a fight. During his interview with MMA Junkie earlier this year, the 32-year-old explained that he’s aiming to fight talents higher on the rankings list, thus his reasoning for declining a fight against Neal:
“I keep hearing about Geoff, and that’s fine, you know what I mean? But here’s the thing, man. I respect the skills. The dude is tough as (expletive), he’s on a tear,” Chiesa told MMA Junkie. “I saw his fight on the ‘Contender Series,’ and I was like, ‘That dude, you could fast-track him. He’s top-10 talent.’ So real recognize real.
“That doesn’t mean that I don’t think I can beat him up. But for me, I’ve put my time in this sport, I’ve been in the UFC eight years this March, and I’m not asking for a title fight or something, but I’ve earned my spot.”
Despite Chiesa’s respectful response, Neal isn’t happy with the welterweight not accepting a match-up against him. The rising UFC star believes that Chiesa is acting like a bitch, and desperately wants that fight for personal reasons:
“I really just want to fight Chiesa because he’s been ignoring me,” Neal told MMA Junkie. “Like, at first it was just I want to fight him just to fight him, but now I want to fight him because I feel like he’s being a (expletive). I want that Chiesa fight just off personal (expletive) because he’s acting like I’m invisible to him. I’ve been calling him out for (expletive) months. So, I want that fight. (Expletive) him.”
Neal further explains why he wants to clash against Chiesa, with the 29-year-old feeling disrespected over the welterweight deciding against stepping into the octagon against him:
“I feel disrespected which makes it kind personal because I know he sees my posts and he made some comment that he doesn’t want to fight me because I said something about him not wanting any smoke, which is kind of a weak-ass excuse not to fight me,” Neal said. “I’m No. 10 now. I was No. 11 before, like we’re not that far off in the rankings. It’s not like I’m some unranked dude trying to call you out.
“The fight makes perfect sense. He wants to chase after Colby Covington – you only have three fights in the welterweight division and you’ve fought two dudes that are (expletive) ’55ers. You can’t really say that you were above me. He has this air of entitlement and I (expletive) hate that (expletive).”
Check out the full interview on where Neal talks about a potential fight against Tryon Woodley, and other topics regarding his MMA career thus far.