Geoff Neal vs. Carlos Prates In The Works For UFC 319

A welterweight fight between Geoff Neal and Carlos Prates is being targeted for the upcoming UFC 319 event in Chicago on August 16th. This match-up was actually originally supposed to happen back in April, but it fell through after Neal withdrew due to undisclosed reasons. That led to the 31-year-old Prates fighting Ian Machado Garry ...

A welterweight fight between Geoff Neal and Carlos Prates is being targeted for the upcoming UFC 319 event in Chicago on August 16th.

This match-up was actually originally supposed to happen back in April, but it fell through after Neal withdrew due to undisclosed reasons.

That led to the 31-year-old Prates fighting Ian Machado Garry instead in the main event of UFC On ESPN 66, resulting in a unanimous decision loss.

That defeat ended Prates impressive four-fight winning start to his time in the Octagon, which had seen him knock out all four his opponents in 2024, including Neil Magny, Li Jingliang, Charles Radtke and Trevin Giles.

That now leaves Prates ranked No.13 in the 170lb division as he now gets ready to fight Neal, who is currently No.11 in the rankings.

The 34-year-old Neal’s last fight was a TKO victory over Rafael dos Anjos back in October of last year. Prior to that he’d suffered back-to-back defeats to divisional stand-outs Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Machado Garry.

In total Garry’s UFC record currently stands at 8-4 since joining from the early days of the Contender Series back in 2017.

Neal vs. Prates isn’t officially announced yet, but is expected to join a UFC 319 card that will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev.

Ross Cole
Ross launched MMA Insight (previously FightOfTheNight.com) in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts. He's since penned countless news stories and live fight reports along with dozens of feature articles as the lead writer for the site, reaching millions of fans in the process.

More UFC News

Watch The UFC’s Greatest KO’s Of 2025 So Far

We’re past the mid-way point of 2025 and so the UFC have now put together a lengthy video package showcasing the great KO’s in ...

Who Will Headline UFC: White House Event? Odds Released

The initial odds have been released for who will headline President Trump’s proposed UFC event at the White House to celebrate the 250th birthday ...

UFC On ESPN 70 Fight Card

UFC On ESPN 70 takes place this coming Saturday night, July 12th in Nashville, Tennessee and we’ve got the full fight card for you ...