HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver set to strike on Aug. 26 unless deal is reached

LAS VEGAS – Brazilian Nicolle Caliari submitted Canadian flyweight Corinne Laframboise for a first-round win Tuesday on Dana White’s Contender Series.

The Contender Series, held at the UFC’s Apex production facility, offers fighters a chance to impress UFC president Dana White — and possibly earn a UFC deal.

Caliari, showing no fear of Laframboise’s black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, took the Canadian down twice in the first round. Laframboise worked her way out from underneath and landed some elbow strikes.

When Laframboise dragged the Brazilian down to the ground, Caliari (8-2-0) swung her legs up and locked in an armbar that forced her opponent to verbally submit with 15 seconds remaining in the round. It was her third straight submission win.

The performance earned the 27-year-old Caliari her UFC contract.

“I’m going to give her a shot in the UFC,” said White.

Laframboise (8-5-0) was slated to fight on the Contender Series last September but pulled out after pre-fight medicals showed she was three months pregnant.

“A surprise happened,” Laframboise said by way of understatement. Her daughter Aurélie was born in March.

Laframboise last fought in March 2022, submitting Venezuela’s Carolina Jimenez on a UAE Warriors card in Abu Dhabi. She took time off from MMA that August after an injury that caused her to lose half of her hearing in her right ear.

The 35-year-old from Saint-Mathieu-de-Belœil, Que., eventually returned to training when initially invited to fight on the Contender Series, giving her a shot at her dream of making the UFC. But before she could start sparring, she sprained her ankle and had to avoid heavy contact in her training camp.

That proved to be fortuitous when she discovered she was pregnant.

Two of her losses came against future UFC competitors Jamie-Lynn Horth and Manon Fiorot. She also lost to Canadian Jade Masson-Wong, who fought unsuccessfully for the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship flyweight title last week.

The Contender Series has not been kind to Canadians recently. Shannon (MMA Barbie) Clark was knocked out in vicious fashion last week by Venezuelan flyweight Yuneisy Duben, an 8-1 underdog.

Canadians who previously earned UFC contracts via the Contender Series include Chad Anheliger, Jasmine Jasudavicius, Mike Malott, Yohan Lainesse and TJ Laramie. Others to have moved on via the feeder series include Serhiy Sidey, who moved to Canada from Ukraine when he was six and now calls Burlington, Ont., home, and Brazilian-born Caio Machado, who now fights out of Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

WNBA players and their union spoke out against Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s recent comments on a TV show that failed to condemn racist and bitter criticism from fans toward the Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese rivalry.

Engelbert made an appearance on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” on Monday and was asked by anchor Tyler Mathisen about what he called the “darker” tone taken by fan bases on social media that brings race and sometimes sexuality into the conversation.

“How do you try and stay ahead of that, try and tamp it down or act as a league when two of your most visible players are involved — not personally, it would seem, but their fan bases are involved — in saying some very uncharitable things about the other?” Mathisen asked.

Engelbert responded by saying, “There’s no more apathy. Everybody cares. It is a little of that Bird-Magic moment if you recall from 1979, when those two rookies came in from a big college rivalry, one white, one Black. And so we have that moment with these two.

“But the one thing I know about sports, you need rivalry. That’s what makes people watch. They want to watch games of consequence between rivals. They don’t want everybody being nice to one another.”

WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson issued a statement Tuesday disagreeing with Engelbert’s comments.

“Here is the answer that the Commissioner should have provided to the very clear question regarding the racism, misogyny, and harassment experienced by the Players: There is absolutely no place in sport — or in life — for the vile hate, racist language, homophobic comments, and the misogynistic attacks our players are facing on social media,” the statement said.

The union statement went on to say that fandom should “lift up the game, not tear down the very people who bring it to life.”

Engelbert clarified her initial remarks on social media late Tuesday night, writing, “To be clear, there is absolutely no place for hate or racism of any kind in the WNBA or anywhere else.”

Clark and Reese have brought new attention to the WNBA this season with attendance and ratings soaring. The pair have been rivals on the court since their college days when LSU topped Iowa in the national championship game in 2023.

Union vice president Breanna Stewart was disappointed in Engelbert’s initial comments.

“To be honest, I saw the interview today, and have been in talks with Terri at the WNBPA,” Stewart said after a win over the Dallas Wings. “I think that it’s kind of disappointing to hear because the way that the fans have surged, especially behind Caitlin and Angel coming to this league, but also bringing, like, a race aspect, to a different level.

“And you know, there’s no place for that in our sport. I think that’s really what it is. We want our sport to be inclusive for race, for gender, and really a place where people can be themselves. So we wish, obviously, Cathy would have used her platform in a different way, and have made that a little bit better, kind of just telling the fans enough is enough.”

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AP WNBA:

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

PARIS (AP) — French authorities foiled three plots to attack the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris and other cities that hosted the summer events, the national counterterrorism prosecutor said on Wednesday.

Olivier Christen said the plots included plans to attack “ Israeli institutions or representatives of Israel in Paris” during the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympic competition. The prosecutor told broadcaster France Info that “the Israeli team itself was not specifically targeted.” He didn’t give further details.

In all, five people, including a minor, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the three foiled plots against the Summer Games, which were held against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s war in Ukraine. The suspects are facing various terrorism-related charges while they remain in pretrial detention, the prosecutor said.

France was on its highest security alert in the months ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics, which wrapped up last week. During preparations for the Games, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin repeatedly warned that security threats included those from Islamic extremist groups, violent environmental activists, far-right groups and cyberattacks from Russia or other adversaries.

In May, members of the General Directorate of Internal Security arrested an 18-year-old man from Chechnya on suspicion of being behind a plan to attack Olympic soccer events that were held in the southern city of Saint-Etienne.

The planned attack was to target “bar-type establishments around the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium,” the prosecutor said. The suspect is accused of planning “a violent action” on behalf of the Islamic State group’s jihadi ideology.

Jihadists threats dominated the foiled plots and 80% of legal proceedings against suspects include the extremist ideology that still influences France’s youth, the prosecutor said. IS continues to “spread propaganda,” he added.

Preventive measures included increased house searches and house arrests before the start of the Olympics, the prosecutor said, adding that police and other security personnel conducted 936 house searches so far in 2024, compared to 153 last year.

France also strengthened its airspace defences during the summer Olympics and Paralympics, deploying war planes, attack helicopters, surveillance aircraft, military and police drones among others to patrol the skies over Paris and the Mediterranean port city of Marseille that hosted sailing and soccer events.

The French Air and Space Force completed more than 750 flight hours in 350 missions that resulted in 90 interceptions, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry on Wednesday.

Most interceptions were civilian drones, the statement said, adding that 85 drone operators were arrested. They were mostly tourists unaware of the regulations in place during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the statement said.

Two civilian drone operators were arrested for “delivering illegal equipment to a prison,” it added.

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This story has been corrected to show that the name of the stadium in Saint-Etienne is Geoffroy-Guichard, not Geoffroy.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.