Bryan Barberena offers to step in against Shavkat Rakhmonov after Geoff Neal pulled out of their fight

Since Geoff Neal was forced to pull out of his upcoming fight due to injury, the UFC has been scrambling to get a replacement to face Shavkat Rakhmonov on just two weeks' notice, and Bryan Barberena has thrown his name into the hat.

While fighters have stepped in on much shorter notice than 16 days, it will be tough for an athlete to agree to face somebody at the level of the Kazakhstani without a full training camp. The undefeated prospect has made every opponent look like easy work thus far into his career and could now have problems finding fights.

In an attempt to save the matchup and keep Shavkat Rakhmonov on the January 14 card, Bryan Barberena has publicly announced his intention to fill in for the injured Geoff Neal, though he has one condition if he is to do so.

"Neal out. We were supposed to fight before on short notice. No one wants to fight you. Fu** it, make it at 180 [pounds] and I'll see you there."

'Handz of Steel' looked to add to his momentum inside the octagon by beating one of the biggest prospects in the sport. In his last two outings, the Texan holds wins over the always-dangerous Vicente Luque and the gritty Santiago Ponzinibbio.

While Rakhmonov is the more well-rounded fighter with more tools in his arsenal, Neal possesses scary knockout power that has been on display plenty of times in the cage. He holds a sickening finish of Frank Camacho, TKO wins over Niko Price and Mike Perry, and a huge KO against the aforementioned 'Silent Assassin'.

---

A history of Shavkat Rakhmonov's many canceled matchups in the UFC

Although this is the biggest profile bout that has fallen through for Shavkat Rakhmonov, it is not the first of the welterweight's canceled matchups since signing for the UFC.

Prior to making his debut in the octagon, the 28-year-old struggled to finalize a fight and had an incredible three proposed clashes called out before he could even step foot into the cage.

Initially, his brawl with Bartosz Fabianski never came to fruition when the coronavirus forced the match to be canceled. A scheduled collision against Ramazan Emeev didn't unfold when Rakhmonov himself withdrew from proceedings.

Elizeu Zaleski pulled out of the final fight prior to the European's debut in the UFC. Alongside a number of fighters refusing to match up against the rising star, the biggest fight of his career has now been canceled.