The Ultimate Fighting Championship held their final event of 2020 on Saturday with UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs Neal at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. No. 5 ranked welterweight Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson faced No. 11 ranked Geoff Neal in the fight card’s main event.
Thompson and Neal closed out the year by going the distance in a fight that left both fighters bloodied and bruised.
Neal pressured Thompson but was unable to box him in. Thompson moved along the perimeter of the octagon using his jab to keep Neal at distance. Thompson employed a high-output offense and used his footwork to avoid Neal’s forward attacks.
During the first round, the two had an accidental collision of heads leaving both fighters cut. When the fight resumed, Thompson went back to landing his jab. In the second frame, Thompson continued to stick and move. He outworked Neal and set the pace of the bout.
Neal had his moments but had a difficult time finding Thompson with strikes. He struggled to get inside on Thompson and resorted to rushing forward with a flurry of punches.
In the closing seconds of the fourth frame, Thompson injured his right leg. As the round ended, Thompson checked his leg and limped to his corner. There was visible swelling about his right knee.
In the final round, Thompson’s movement was compromised. He was able to move but Neal began to connect with power punches. Thompson fired back, winning the round, but Neal had his best round in the final one. After 25 minutes of fighting, all three judges scored the fight for Thompson 50-45.
“I’ve been off for a year. I broke both of my hands in my last fight a year ago at UFC 244. I took a year off. This is the longest time I’ve actually been off, and I’ve been in the fight game for a while,” Thompson said after the decision victory.
“Geoff is a tough, tough opponent. He’s just rock solid Every punch I hit him with, he just kept on coming.”
With the win, Thompson is now riding a two-fight winning streak and wants a fight with someone ranked ahead of him in the division.
“This is two in a row. I’m definitely working my way up. Give me somebody. I want to see the NMF verses the BMF. Let’s make that happen. Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson verses Jorge Masvidal. I know he’s talking about fighting Colby Covington, but we’ll see,” Thompson said.
“Wonderboy is still here. That title. 2021 is going to be mine. You watch and see, but I’m just glad to be back.”
The fight card featured four top 15 ranked bantamweights that resulted in a big shakeup in the 135-pound division. In the co-main event, former two-time featherweight champion and No. 7 ranked bantamweight Jose Aldo faced No. 15 ranked Marlon “Chito” Vera.
In the first round, Aldo and Vera engaged in a technical striking battle with both fighters landing leg kicks. Midway through the frame Aldo began targeting Vera’s body.
Vera pressured Aldo in the second frame as Aldo continued to connect to midsection. Vera tied Aldo up and delivered knees to the body and legs of the Brazilian. Vera landed a counter left hand near the end of the round. Heading into the final frame, the fight was even.
Between rounds, Aldo’s coach asked him to take Vera down. Aldo did just that early in the stanza. He took Vera’s back and remained on it for the rest of the round. All three judges scored the contest 29-28 for Aldo.
“It’s important to come back in the win column. It’s important to win. I have to thank all the people that trained me and the people that have been sticking around with us all a long. I have to thank them all,” Aldo said after the decision win.
Aldo snapped a three-fight losing streak with the win. Back in the win column, Aldo called out the former champion.
“As far as my next fight, it will be (TJ) Dillashaw. We’ve been talking about Dillashaw a lot. Dana, make it happen,” he said.
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No. 11 ranked Rob Font stopped No. 3 ranked Marlon Moraes in the opening round of their bout. Moraes secured early takedowns but wasn’t able to keep Font grounded. Once on his feet, Font dominated Moraes. He put together combinations and staggered Moraes with a stiff jab. He dropped Moraes with an uppercut and it was just a matter of time before the finish came.
Font delivered punches, elbows and hammer fists until the referee stepped in to stop the fight. It was Font’s first bout in 2020, and the win puts him on a three-fight winning streak.
“It’s been a long time. It’s been a whole year sitting around. It was my third big opportunity. I finally took advantage of it. I’m feeling emotional right now,” Font said following the win.
“Once I hit him I felt him just give out. I just had to stay on top of him. I thought it went a little longer than it should have, but I’m not complaining.”
In the featured bout on the preliminary fight card, former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis defeated Alex Morono in a welterweight bout During his post-fight interview, Pettis announced his intentions to return to the 155-pound weight class.
“I’m going back down to 55. I felt amazing at 170, but my goal is at 155. Before I’m all said and done, I want to go back and get that belt,” Pettis said.”
OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
