UFC 308 on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, boasts and absolutely loaded main draw, but a solid undercard will provide some substantial support in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to the Middle East. The featured bout shines the spotlight on former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, who looks to find a late-career home at welterweight and takes on a tough test in power puncher Geoff Neal. A lightweight clash between Mateusz Rebecki and Myktybek Orolbai also figures to be worth watching, as two balls of muscle attempt to grind each other into paste. Beyond that, there are some interesting prospects to monitor in some matchups of varying quality, along with the welcomed return of the always entertaining Chris Barnett at heavyweight.
Welterweights
#10 WW | Geoff Neal (15-6, 7-4 UFC) vs. #15 LW | Rafael dos Anjos (32-16, 21-14 UFC)ODDS: Neal (-305), dos Anjos (+245)
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Dos Anjos is still shockingly effective for being two decades into a high-level career, but things do feel about as directionless as ever for the former lightweight champ, who now finds himself a man stuck between divisions. “RDA” signed with the UFC back in 2008 and had a tough start with the promotion but eventually shot up the rankings after honing an effective pressure game over half a decade, heading into 2015 as the top contender for then-champion Anthony Pettis. The expectation was that Pettis would run through dos Anjos and continue establishing himself as one of the faces of the UFC, but the Brazilian upset that apple cart with his quiet professionalism, running the champion through the ringer with that grinding pressure and walking away with the lightweight title. Dos Anjos’ reign itself was somewhat disappointing, thanks to some ill-timed injuries. It was a bit of time before his first title defense over Donald Cerrone, and the Brazilian lost out on a big-money title defense against Conor McGregor before losing his belt to Eddie Alvarez after another injury recovery. Dos Anjos moved up to welterweight shortly thereafter, which proved quite successful at first, as he marched his way to an interim title fight against Colby Covington in about a year. However, once dos Anjos established himself among the welterweight elite, he began facing opponents that could outwrestle him and move him backwards, sapping most of his effectiveness in the process. Dos Anjos has swung between lightweight and welterweight within recent years, remaining a going concern in both divisions without ever coming close to getting back into title contention. He can still beat a lot of fighters, but top lightweights are just too fast for him at 39 years of age, and he’s just not stout enough to compete with top welterweights. After his latest return to lightweight resulted in a wrestling-heavy loss to Mateusz Gamrot in March, dos Anjos is back up at 170 pounds for the time being against Neal.
The last man to beat current welterweight champion Belal Muhammad, Neal announced himself as a welterweight contender with a breakout 2019 campaign that consisted of that aforementioned Muhammad win and knockouts of Niko Price and Mike Perry. “Handz of Steel” hasn’t quite marched into contention from there, but he has remained a dangerous gatekeeper to the very top of the division, with the outside chance that he can still put together one big run. Neal’s main flaw has typically been that he’s a pure headhunter as a puncher; and while he has enough slickness and hand speed to go punch-for-punch with anyone—he handed the historically durable Vicente Luque some career-altering brain damage in 2022—top opponents have found success taking the fight out of the fight, whether via outmaneuvering Neal from range or turning things into a grind. Neal has found enough extra movement and clinch work to make those matchups a bit more forgiving—a close loss to Ian Garry in February is a fight Neal would have lost much more clearly a year or two prior—but it does seem like he will have to thread a needle to truly break his way into the welterweight elite. With that said, this does seem like a good opportunity for Neal to put together an impressive performance. Dos Anjos might be a dedicated pressure fighter who can turn things into a grind, but he doesn’t have a particular advantage in terms of size or speed at this point, which figures to make marching in on Neal a difficult proposition. In fact, this could look a lot like the Luque fight for Neal, with dos Anjos eating a ton of damage as the Fortis MMA rep keeps beating him to the literal punch. The pick is Neal via second-round knockout.
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Neal vs. Dos Anjos
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