Photo | Stephen Thompson shows off facial cuts from war with Geoff Neal at UFC Vegas 17

UFC welterweight contender Stephen Thompson showed off his facial cuts following his war against Geoff Neal in the UFC Vegas 17 main event.

Despite entering the Octagon as the slight betting underdog to Neal based on closing odds, Thompson won the fight in a blowout, winning 50-45 on all three of the judges’ scorecards. Thompson showed that there are levels to this game as he stayed on the outside and landed nearly 200 significant strikes on Neal, who showed incredible durability by going the full five rounds in what was a shutout win for Thompson.

Although Thompson won the fight by unanimous decision and it wasn’t that close on the scorecards, Neal did have some success at times throughout the 25 minutes. Neal is known for his boxing skills and he did land some hard punches in this fight and he marked up Thompson’s face. Although Neal was never able to land a heavy blow that knocked Thompson down, he did enough that “Wonderboy” didn’t escape unscathed. Remember, there was also an accidental headbutt that did damage in the fight.

Taking to his social media the day after the fight, Thompson showed off his facial cuts from the Neal fight with a model’s pose. Check out Thompson’s Instagram post below.

Got to love the fight game babyyy!! #fighter #fightfamily #ufc #mma #igers #igdaily #karate #imgmodels

With the win over Neal, Thompson has now won back-to-back fights over Neal and Vicente Luque, both of who are top-15 ranked fighters. Ranked No. 5 in the world, Thompson is still behind Gilbert Burns, Colby Covington, Leon Edwards, and Jorge Masvidal in the UFC welterweight contender rankings for champion Kamaru Usman’s title, but he isn’t far away from getting a third UFC title fight. Following the win over Neal, Thompson called out Masvidal and he hopes to rematch him sometime in 2021.

What do you think is next for Stephen Thompson after beating Geoff Neal at UFC Vegas 17?