Outside Source
Neal recently revealed that he has been battling alcohol and drug addiction for the past five years. It started around 2020 when Neal went into septic shock. Neal claims his longest periods of sobriety in the last five years were a couple of weeks before his fights. Despite going into his fights underprepared, “Handz of Steel” has surprised himself by managing to stay in the rankings all along. Neal recently overcame addiction by staying sober for 75 days straight.
‘I Fell Into a Hole’
“I got done with the 75 hard challenge two weeks ago,” Neal told Home of Fight. “But I had a real issue for five years, around COVID, when I got sepsis, I fell into a hole… I had a problem with addiction, drugs and alcohol, it was rough, five years of it. The longest I was sober within those five years was two weeks, and those weeks were usually before fights. I’d slow down two weeks before the fight, come to the fight underprepared, out of shape; it was rough. It’s crazy I stayed in the rankings the whole time.”
Neal (16-7) is 1-3 in his last four outings, with the win coming from a knee injury to his opponent. However, the perennially ranked welterweight has only lost to elite opposition in Shavkat Rakhmonov, Ian Garry, and, most recently, Carlos Prates. Neal is now scheduled to face Uros Medic at UFC Houston on Feb 21. Medic (12-3) is coming off back-to-back first-round knockout wins and has never seen the judges’ scorecards in his career.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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