THOMPSON RETURNS TO TAKE DOWN NEAL
UFC welterweight veteran predicted to lose after long layoff but proves doubters wrong
Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson wasn't ready to pass the torch.
At 37 years old and coming off 13 months on the sidelines, Thompson could easily have been positioned as the veteran who was set to lose to Geoff Neal on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 183 in Las Vegas, thereby cementing Neal as a legitimate contender.
That was the expectation, on some level, of many experts heading into the final UFC card of 2020. Thompson refused to play ball. He held onto that torch with both hands and squeezed as tight as he could.
For five rounds on Saturday night, Thompson was completely in control. His technical striking seemed to confound Neal — a very good fighter facing a step-up in competition — and he hit from the sorts of strange angles that few dare to try, and even fewer manage to master.
Thompson's last two fights have come against younger men looking to prove themselves. Fights with Neal and Vicente Luque meant more to Thompson's opponents' resumes than they did to him.
But you can only beat the fighters who are put in front of you, and that's exactly what Thompson did on Saturday. The way he did it showed he's still got lots left in the tank.
The UFC is better when rays of positivity like Thompson are allowed to shine through, so Thompson's win in the final fight of 2020 was a little gift at the end of a tough year.
Here are five other take-aways from Saturday's fights:
1.
WELTERWEIGHT WEIRDNESS Thompson is ranked No. 5 in the welterweight division and looked great beating another top10 fighter on Saturday night.
It should be easy to find him an opponent for his next fight, right? Nope.
Looking at the fighters ranked in front of Thompson, I've got no idea who to pair him with next.
Kamaru Usman, the champion, is supposed to fight No. 2-ranked Gilbert Burns at some point early next year. Leon Edwards, ranked No. 3, is supposed to take on the wildly unproven but highly hyped Khamzat Chimaev. Again, not sure when, but it's supposed to happen
No. 1 contender Colby Covington is unbooked but it's widely rumoured that he'll be matched against No. 4 Jorge Masvidal. The two supposedly hate each other, although maybe they've reconciled over their beloved Donald Trump getting obliterated in the presidential election?
Either way, there's no obvious candidate for Thompson. His best bet is probably just to stay ready and be willing to step in on short notice.
2. ALDO
Speaking of guys who many thought were a little washed-up but stepped up in a big way on Saturday, let's talk about Jose Aldo.
It's been a rough year-anda-half for the guy. He lost to featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, then was on the wrong end of a decision against Marlon Moraes before getting smashed up by bantamweight champ Petr Yan.
Nobody in their right mind would have put money down on the Brazilian coming up big against Marlon Vera.
That's exactly what he did, though, putting in a vintage performance that reminded us all of just how dangerous Aldo really was in his prime.
He's nowhere near that point in his career now, but we've seen so many once great fighters end their careers with a series of increasingly depressing losses.
Anyone who has followed the sport for a while had to be happy to see Aldo stand in the middle of the octagon and refuse to go gently into the night.
3.
DO DILLASHAW?
Aldo called out former bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw after beating Vera, and it's easy to understand why so many in the media were on board.
Dillashaw's been suspended for the last two years because he tested positive for EPO. Technically, I guess we don't know how he's going to look when he is eligible to return to the octagon next year. He's a big name, and so is Aldo. Matching them against one another is going to attract a lot of eyeballs. Should it happen, though? Shouldn't Dillashaw have to start from scratch? Why give him a massive payday immediately after he was caught cheating red-handed?
It just feels like an insanely tough fight against a super well-rested opponent for Aldo and an undeserved payday for a drug-cheat in Dillashaw.
4.
HERE WE ARE
What happened to Marlon Moraes? A year ago, he beat Aldo and probably should have been given the next bantamweight title shot. After getting TKO'd by Rob Font on Saturday night, though, he's now been on the receiving end of two very ugly losses in 2020.
There's no shame in losing to Cory Sandhagen, and there's nothing wrong with losing to Font. Moraes was somebody who used to beat opponents like Font and Sandhagen, though, and he was doing it as recently as last year. The MMA gods are cruel, though, and when a fighter loses that special something that makes them great, they tend to lose it very quickly.
5. PETTIS
It will be a shame if Anthony Pettis moves on from the UFC after his contract ran out with a win over Alex Morono on Saturday night. It sort of feels like Pettis just belongs in the UFC.
He's one of those legends who, for whatever reason, doesn't get called a legend all that often.
The “showtime kick” he landed against Benson Henderson 10 years ago is probably the coolest strike in MMA history. He's a former lightweight champion. Almost every single fight he's been in has been fun. It would be nice to see him continue fighting in an organization that can provide him with elite opponents.