Geoff Neal thinks Michael Chiesa is getting ahead of himself at welterweight

HOUSTON — Geoff Neal has taken several prospects out, but he’s ready for the top of the division.

Neal (13-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) has finished all but one of his UFC fights and is coming off his highest profile win to date, a first-round finish over fan favorite Mike Perry at UFC 245.

“I think it raised my profile a lot,” Neal told reporters, including MMA Junkie, on Thursday. “When people see me, they see a dude that did something to Mike Perry that nobody’s been able to do, so I feel like that raised me a little bit. Everybody knows I’m one of the heavy hitters in the division.”

Neal admits that he thought the win over Perry would open up big doors, but it hasn’t quite yet.

“I thought after the Mike Perry fight, I’d have a little bit more clout, but it didn’t happen that way, so I’m still kind of the unknown guy, but we’ll see. Before this Mike Perry fight, everybody was praising him, how tough he was when he fought Luque. I beat him and all of a sudden everybody is talking about how bad Mike Perry is and how he should go to Bellator.”

But Neal doesn’t plan on being the dark horse of the division for too long. He has his eyes set on the top 10 and on one fighter in particular whom he thinks jumped the line, former lightweight competitor Michael Chiesa.

Since moving up to 170 pounds, Chiesa has picked up wins over veterans Carlos Condit, Diego Sanchez, and most recently former UFC lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos two weeks ago.

“I want to get a hold of Michael Chiesa,” Neal said. “He kind of skipped the line, fought RDA. I got my opinion on RDA. I’m not going say it out loud, but (Chiesa) skipped the line, and I feel like he thinks he needs to fight ahead. He wants to fight Colby Covington. Like, no, you’re going to fight me. You got to fight someone that’s young and up-and-coming. Don’t fight a dude that’s on his way out, and you think you’re tough”

A fight with Chiesa would pit Neal against one of the top grapplers in the division, which would provide him a good test in preparation for the likes of UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.

“Usman and Covington, they can strike but they’re not strikers, so I want to prove that I can avoid the takedown, that I can get myself off the mat and still get the finish,” Neal said.