Geoff Neal to take time off from MMA: ‘My body hasn’t been right’

It appears Geoff Neal won’t be stepping back in the octagon any time soon.

The UFC welterweight plans on taking time off from the fight game to address some lingering health issues. Neal (13-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) revealed the news Saturday following his decision loss to Neil Magny at UFC on ESPN 24 in Las Vegas.

Neal battled with sepsis this past August. It was a bad case in which he was put in the intensive care unit for almost a week. The issue came up when he was preparing to fight Magny at UFC Fight Night 175. The infection forced him out of the bout.

Neal said there are lingering issues from his sepsis and he hasn’t felt the same since and it even affected his preparation for his bout against Magny. Neal, who was unbeaten prior to the sepsis, is now on a two-fight skid having lost to Stephen Thompson in December.

Below is Neal’s post-fight statement:

“Well there goes another one lol. Felt really good in the first round and the second one was close. Even in defeat I’m still proud of this one as well. It was another honor to step in there with another crafty veteran in @neil_magny170. I’m probably gonna take some time away and take care of my health a little bit. My body hasn’t been right since I got sepsis last year. I’ve been dealing with off and on sickness and severe lack of energy since then. I almost pulled out of this fight last week because I was vomiting/diarrhea for 3 days and after having to rehydrate and replenish what my body lost I found myself sitting at 208 pounds exactly 1 week before weigh ins. But I got issues, so I said fuck it and cut 37 pounds in a week anyway. Lol Probably a super dangerous/stupid decision, but nothing great ever gets done trying to play it safe. 🤷🏾‍♂️ Gonna go on my FIRST real vacation to Hawaii next week, come back, get some blood test done to figure out what’s going on with my body and I PROMISE you I will be back with a vengeance. Thanks to all my Coaches and teammates who helped my through this camp. And thanks again to @neil_magny170. That was a solid veteran performance 👏🏾🙏🏾.”