Neil Magny hopes a dominant win at UFC 215 will earn him a welterweight title shot

Following months of recovery from back and neck injuries, it's been a slow 2017 for welterweight contender Neil Magny. UFC 215 marks his first fight of the year, and it won't be an easy one: he faces former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, who kicked off his 170 pound run with a dominating win over Tarec Saffiedine.

But Magny isn't worried about how tough dos Anjos is. Rather, he's excited that he's been given an opponent that could potentially leap frog him right into a title shot if he puts on a great fight.

“I feel great for a potential title shot after this win,” Magny said during an interview with MMA Junkie at the UFC 215 media day. “The biggest thing is to focus on beating dos Anjos first, but I’m pretty sure a title shot is within reach with an impressive performance against dos Anjos.”

Magny was in high demand during his months on the sidelines, getting called out by several rising stars in the welterweight division.

“I was like man, I haven’t fought in six months, and you guys have the biggest wins of your careers and the first thing you bring up is me!" he said. "On the other side of it, it made me feel pretty good knowing I had some job security once I got cleared by a doctor.”

Cleared and ready to go, Magny is hoping to build on the momentum he gained off an insane 2015 with five fights, a run that has him sitting at 6-2 over his last 8. Considering Rafael dos Anjos was being considered as Tyron Woodley's UFC 214 opponent if Demian Maia wasn't ready, he'd be a great name to add to his list of victims, one that's already full of guys like Hendricks, Lombard, and Gastelum.