Vicente Luque is expecting a war when he faces Geoff Neal in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 59.
Luque is coming off a five-round decision loss to Belal Muhammad and after the setback, he wasn’t quite sure what would be next. Yet, when he got the call to face Neal he was excited as he knows this is a very fun fight for the fans and one he expects will result in a lot of violence.
“It’s a fight that I think took longer to happen than I expected,” Luque said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “It is a fight that I thought would’ve happened two years ago, it’s a fight that makes a lot of sense as our styles match up well as it’s two strikers who are aggressive and have knockout power. That is always exciting, at least for me. I think it’s going to be a special one for the fans.”
Why Luque is so excited about this fight is because he expects it to be a striking fight. He knows both he and Neal like to throw down and look for the knockouts which is what he wants to do.
However, although Luque is preparing for a kickboxing fight, he says he is also prepared in case Neal shoots for takedowns.
“If I look at Geoff’s fights he is always trying to knock his opponents out. The only guy he tried to take down was Niko Price because he got rocked and then used the takedown to TKO him with ground and pound,” Luque said. “I see it mostly being a standup fight but if I hurt him maybe he tries to take me down. But, after my last fight, if he goes for the safe way to try and grind me against the cage or on the ground, I’m going to have tools for that as well. I’m looking for a lot of chaos and a lot of violence as that is where I thrive.”
If the fight ends up being a striking fight as Vicente Luque hopes, he believes he can be the first person to knockout Geoff Neal. Yet, if he doesn’t, he still is confident he will get his hand raised in what he expects to be the Fight of the Night.
“I plan for many different ways for the fight to go but I think it will be a banger and a war,” Luque explained. “I’ve seen Geoff fight many times and his goal is to always be the tougher name and not let it go to the decision and that is what he will try to do against me and that is what I will try to do against him. It’s going to be a banger and possibly the Fight of the Night… I want to finish everybody, that is who I am and what I do.”
Should Luque get his hand raised on Saturday, he believes he will be right back in the title mix and hopes for one more fight this year.
“I think it will put me right back in that mix that is one or two fights away from the title,” Luque said.
Do you think Vicente Luque will beat Geoff Neal at UFC Vegas 59?