{"id":371717,"date":"2020-12-21T16:47:21","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T00:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=371717"},"modified":"2020-12-21T16:47:21","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T00:47:21","slug":"whats-next-for-stephen-thompson-and-geoff-neal-after-ufc-vegas-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/whats-next-for-stephen-thompson-and-geoff-neal-after-ufc-vegas-17\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s next for Stephen Thompson and Geoff Neal after UFC Vegas 17?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the main event of UFC Vegas 17, Stephen Thompson took on rising contender Geoff Neal.<\/p>\n<p>Thompson was looking to cement his case as a top-five welterweight while Neal was set for the biggest fight of his career. Ultimately, it was &#8220;Wonderboy&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mmanews\/ufc-vegas-17-results-stephen-thompson-vs-geoff-neal-highlights\/\">who won every single round to get a clear-cut decision<\/a> and prove to everyone he is still a contender at 170lbs.<\/p>\n<p>Now, following the event, here is what I think should be next for Stephen Thompson and Geoff Neal after UFC Vegas 17.<\/p>\n<h3>Stephen Thompson<\/h3>\n<p>Stephen Thompson&#8217;s last two opponents weren&#8217;t even ranked in the top-10 and he told BJPENN.com he felt the UFC <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/stephen-thompson-believes-ufc-views-him-as-a-gatekeeper-eyes-ko-win-over-geoff-neal\/\">wanted him to be a gatekeeper<\/a>. However, for the second straight fight, he dominated the fight and won a clear-cut decision.<\/p>\n<p>Following the win, Thompson called for a rematch with Jorge Masvidal, however, that doesn&#8217;t seem likely to happen. &#8220;Gamebred&#8221; is likely to fight Colby Covington and the rest of the top-five of the division is booked with Usman-Burns and Edwards-Chimaev. A possible option <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/stephen-thompson\/stephen-thompson-hoping-former-opponent-tyron-woodley-gets-it-back-after-recent-skid\/\">could be a trilogy with Tyron Woodley<\/a> who is ranked one spot below him, however, a matchup against Neil Magny makes a ton of sense.<\/p>\n<p>Magny is ranked ninth in the division and coming off a win over Robbie Lawler. He also holds the second-most wins at welterweight and deserves a big step-up in competition. If Thompson wins that, the rest of the top-five would likely have fought so he could get a top-five guy. For Magny, this would be a shot at proving he is a legit title contender.<\/p>\n<h3>Geoff Neal<\/h3>\n<p>Geoff Neal had a tough 2020. The <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/sayif-saud-making-fortis-mma-into-a-top-gym-with-five-ranked-ufc-fighters\/\">Fortis MMA<\/a> product had a severe health scare and then in his only fight, his head coach couldn&#8217;t corner him due to COVID-19. During the fight, Neal also couldn&#8217;t see for the majority of the scrap but still had moments.<\/p>\n<p>Following his first loss inside the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ufc.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Octagon<\/a>, Neal will have to take a step back in competition and a perfect opponent is Vicente Luque. The Brazilian lost to Thompson last year in his step-up in competition. Both also hold wins over Bella Muhammad, Mike Perry, and Niko Price. The winner would likely get another top-eight guy while the loser would have to fight an unranked guy to prove they are a top-15 welterweight.<\/p>\n<p>Who do you think should be next for Stephen Thompson and Geoff Neal after UFC Vegas 17?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the main event of UFC Vegas 17, Stephen Thompson took on rising contender Geoff Neal. Thompson was looking to cement his case as a top-five welterweight while Neal was set for the biggest fight of his career. Ultimately, it was &#8220;Wonderboy&#8221; who won every single round to get a clear-cut decision and prove to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54463,"featured_media":371719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[39714,10132,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What&#039;s next for Stephen Thompson and Geoff Neal after UFC Vegas 17? | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Now, following the final UFC event of 2020, here is what I think should be next for Stephen Thompson and Geoff Neal after UFC Vegas 17.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/whats-next-for-stephen-thompson-and-geoff-neal-after-ufc-vegas-17\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What&#039;s next for Stephen Thompson and Geoff Neal after UFC Vegas 17? | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Now, following the final UFC event of 2020, here is what I think should be next for Stephen Thompson and Geoff Neal after UFC Vegas 17.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/whats-next-for-stephen-thompson-and-geoff-neal-after-ufc-vegas-17\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-22T00:47:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stephen-Thompson-Geoff-Neal-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cole Shelton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cole Shelton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/whats-next-for-stephen-thompson-and-geoff-neal-after-ufc-vegas-17\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/whats-next-for-stephen-thompson-and-geoff-neal-after-ufc-vegas-17\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cole Shelton\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/700e11a4d77666aed250058808e16134\"},\"headline\":\"What&#8217;s next for Stephen Thompson and Geoff Neal after UFC Vegas 17?\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-22T00:47:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-22T00:47:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/whats-next-for-stephen-thompson-and-geoff-neal-after-ufc-vegas-17\/\"},\"wordCount\":407,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Geoff Neal\",\"Stephen Thompson\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/whats-next-for-stephen-thompson-and-geoff-neal-after-ufc-vegas-17\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/whats-next-for-stephen-thompson-and-geoff-neal-after-ufc-vegas-17\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/whats-next-for-stephen-thompson-and-geoff-neal-after-ufc-vegas-17\/\",\"name\":\"What's next for Stephen Thompson and Geoff Neal after UFC Vegas 17? 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