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It didn’t take long for Ian Machado Garry to get a return date to the octagon.
Garry (13-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) has been booked to fight veteran Geoff Neal at UFC 299, which is set to go down on March 9 in Miami. UFC president Dana White announced the news Saturday following UFC 296 in Las Vegas.
Garry was scheduled to face Vicente Luque on the main card of UFC 296, but was forced to withdraw Wednesday after falling ill with pneumonia. Now, a few days later, he’s got a new date and opponent for his return. White didn’t reveal why the promotion didn’t keep the booking with Luque.
Garry and Neal (15-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) have history. They were previously booked to fight at UFC 292 in August, but Neal had to pull out of the fight and was replaced by Neil Magny, whom Garry beat in a dominant unanimous decision win. In the build up to the event, Garry wore a t-shirt with the mugshot of Neal, causing a stir online.
The Irishman is undefeated in his MMA career and is regarded as one of the more promising contenders at 170 pounds. On the other hand, Neal, a veteran of the game, is looking to build back to title contention, as he last fought in March when he was submitted by Shavkat Rakhmonov. Prior to that, Neal had back-to-back wins over Luque and Santiago Ponzinibbio.
With the addition, the UFC 299 fight card includes:
- Champion Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera – for bantamweight title
- Gilbert Burns vs. Jack Della Maddalena
- Jailton Almeida vs. Curtis Blaydes
- Ian Machado Garry vs. Geoff Neal
- Song Yadong vs. Petr Yan
- Pedro Munhoz vs. Kyler Phillips
- Asu Almabaev vs. CJ Vergara
- Maycee Barber vs. Katlyn Chookagian
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. Mateusz Gamrot
- Lauren Murphy vs. Karine Silva
- Kevin Holland vs. Michael Page
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.
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