UFC Vegas 59 Video: Geoff Neal faces Vicente Luque in brutal knockout and calls Gilbert Burns

Geoff Neal picked up the biggest win of his career with an emphatic knockout over Vicente Luque in the UFC Vegas 59 co-main event.

It was arguably the strongest performance of his career as Neal was relentless coming after Luque with punches from the first exchange until the last. The finishing sequence saw Neal hurt Luque with a straight left followed by nine consecutive uppercuts until another punch came looping in that crumbled the top 10 ranked welterweight.

As Luque fell face first to the canvas, the referee quickly rushed in to call the fight with the end coming at 2:01 in the third round.

“I’ve been looking forward to fighting Luque or somebody like Luque,” Neal said. “He brought the dog out of me. The second round is always the hardest for me. It’s stupid. In the third round, I returned and took him out .”

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Known for his exciting style, Luque set a familiar tone but Neal was more than happy to meet him in the middle as the welterweights were both launching bombs. Neal connected with the first truly damaging shot after he blasted Luque with a straight left hand that wobbled the Brazilian.

Neal ran ahead in a frenzy of punches, but it became clear that Luque was not going away. He backed off of the situation to ensure that he didn’t waste his energy trying for a finish that would never come.

Late during the first round, Neal unleashed another devastating left hand which put Luque to the floor. But he managed to get back in the fight. Even with his face covered in blood and his legs feeling like rubber, Luque was still standing in the pocket trading shots with Neal.

Luque’s volume increased in the second round as he began thumping Neal with a series of kicks while constantly sticking boxing combinations in his face. Although Neal was not being bombarded with punches, his output was less frequent and earned him the encouragement of his coaches to be more active.

When Neal starting letting his left hand go again, he made Luque pay for standing and trading with him as the same signature punch started finding a home again.

Luque fell on another straight and Neal rushed forward, punching in succession until Neal connected the final blow. Neal looked at Luque, his friend and fellow teammate, as a possible opponent.

” “Honestly, I have been looking at Gilbert Burns,” Neal stated. I want him to be next .”

Burns responded that he was willing to accept the challenge, even if he does not get Jorge Masvidal’s fight.

“Finally someone called me out!” Burns wrote on Twitter. “About time! Congrats Geoff Neal. Let’s see if Jorge will show up. Otherwise, we might dance.”