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UFC Fight Night Stephen Thompson vs. Geoff Neal — Live updates and results

December 20, 2020
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The UFC has arrived at its final event of the year — and despite all the challenges of 2020, the promotion is closing out its schedule on a high note.

UFC Fight Night on Saturday from the Apex facility in Las Vegas will feature 10 fighters ranked inside the top 10 of their respective divisions and two former champions, Jose Aldo and Anthony Pettis. In the main event, two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson will square off against up-and-comer Geoff Neal.

Saturday will mark Neal’s first UFC main event, and it represents a big opportunity for the 2017 Contender Series alum. Neal is 5-0 in the UFC with four finishes and is looking to build his case for a 170-pound title shot in 2021. Neal, 30, is seven years younger than Thompson and he’s riding a seven-fight win streak. To many, his time has come. Will that translate into a win?

Thompson last fought in November 2019 when he beat Vicente Luque via unanimous decision. But Thompson has lost three of his last five, and he’ll need a win to stay part of the title conversation. Are his best days behind him?

The co-main event features Aldo facing Marlon Vera, and one of the most anticipated fights on the card is a welterweight bout between Michel Pereira and Khaos Williams, who is 2-0 in the UFC with two knockouts within a combined 57 seconds.

Fight in progress:

Heavyweight: Marcin Tybura (20-6, 7-5 UFC, +105) vs. Greg Hardy (7-2 1 NC, 4-2 1 NC UFC, -125)

Results:

Welterweight: Anthony Pettis (24-10, 11-9 UFC) defeats Alex Morono (18-7 1 NC, 7-4 1 NC UFC) by unanimous decision

Recap to come.

Women’s bantamweight: Pannie Kianzad (15-5, 3-2 UFC) defeats Sijara Eubanks (7-6, 5-4 UFC) via unanimous decision

The UFC women’s bantamweight division might have a much-needed new contender.

Pannie Kianzad rallied to beat Sijara Eubanks via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a battle of women’s 135-pound fighters looking to carve out a spot in the upper echelon of the division.

Eubanks had a ton of success in the first round, taking Kianzad down multiple times, gaining dominant position and landing some ground and pound. Kianzad reversed her fortunes in the second. Eubanks was able to take her down, but Kianzad worked for an armbar twice and kept Eubanks from doing any damage from the top. On the feet, Kianzad got the better of the exchanges, including some hard elbows when Eubanks was working for a takedown against the cage.

The bout mostly took place on the feet in the third. Eubanks landed some hard shots, including a strong left hook. But Kianzad, blood coming from a cut on her nose, landed combinations with some power behind the punches more often, sealing the victory.

Kianzad, 29, has won three straight. The Iranian-born Sweden resident is an Ultimate Fighter veteran and the former Cage Warriors women’s bantamweight champion. Eubanks, a 35-year-old Massachusetts native, has dropped two straight following two straight wins.

— Raimondi

Watch this fight on ESPN+.

Catchweight (195 pounds): Deron Winn (7-2, 2-2 UFC) defeats Antonio Arroyo (9-4, 0-2 UFC) by unanimous decision

Deron Winn snapped a two-fight skid against Antonio Arroyo, in what turned into the most obvious grappler vs. striker matchup of the year.

Winn prevailed via decision, earning scores of 29-28. A former collegiate wrestler, Winn was credited with 12 takedowns in the 195-pound catchweight fight. Arroyo had a clear advantage on the feet, and had Winn hurt with a knee and punches in the opening round, but simply could not stay off his back. Winn racked up nearly 10 minutes of control time, per UFC Stats.

It was an important victory for Winn, who improved to 2-2 in the UFC. A California native and teammate of former two-weight champion Daniel Cormier, Winn might have been fighting for his spot on the UFC roster.

His path back into the win column wasn’t always pretty, but it had a visible effect on Arroyo. The Brazilian looked exhausted in the later rounds, and all but stopped defending Winn’s takedown attempts. He did manage to work back to his feet on a regular basis, but that only led to yet another takedown by Winn.

Arroyo actually out-landed Winn in total strikes, but did very little over the last two rounds.

— Okamoto

Watch this fight on ESPN+.

Women’s flyweight: Taila Santos (17-1, 2-1 UFC) defeats Gillian Robertson (9-5, 6-3 UFC) via unanimous decision

Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Spending an entire fight on the canvas with the only woman with more UFC submissions than Ronda Rousey might not seem like a smart strategy. It works, however, when you’re the stronger and smarter grappler.

Taila Santos had to fend off dangerous submission attempts in both the first and third rounds, but she did so with patience rather than panic, and every single time she ended up in top position, from where she controlled Gillian Robertson and bloodied her with an elbow. Santos even had some tapout tries of her own, and when she didn’t get the finish, she didn’t lose position.

It all added up to two 30-26 scores and, mysteriously, a 29-28.

Santos, 27 and from Brazil, has won two in a row after suffering her only career loss in her UFC debut last year. She is one split decision from being unbeaten.

Robertson, a 25-year-old Canadian who fights out of Coconut Creek, Florida, saw a two-fight winning streak end.

— Wagenheim

Watch this fight on ESPN+.

Middleweight: Tafon Nchukwi (5-0, 1-0 UFC) defeats Jamie Pickett (11-5, 0-1 UFC) by unanimous decision

Tafon Nchukwi isn’t the fastest fighter in the middleweight division. In fact, the thickly muscled slugger is almost plodding. But standing in the cage with him for any length of time seems to be a dangerous proposition.

In his UFC debut, Nchukwi beat Jamie Pickett via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-26) in a 185-pound bout. Nchukwi’s size, strength and power was just too much. Nchukwi dropped Pickett with a head kick followed by a knee in the third round. Even though Pickett was able to make it to the end of the fight, it was a dominant performance for Nchukwi.

Nchukwi landed hard in every round with punches, knees and kicks. In the second round, he landed a series of hard knees to Pickett’s body in the clinch. Pickett, the faster man, was able to land a nice combo and hurt Nchukwi briefly. But as soon as Nchukwi got close again, he was able to push around and maul Pickett against the fence. That is where Nchukwi caught Pickett in the third round, landing that head kick and knee with Pickett’s back to the cage.

Nchukwi, 26, had finished all four of his previous pro fights. The Cameroon native, who appears to be a real prospect to watch at middleweight, had fought at light heavyweight and heavyweight previously, weighing in as heavy as 235.3 pounds. Pickett, a 32-year-old North Carolina resident, had a two-fight winning streak snapped. Like Nchukwi, this was Pickett’s UFC debut following a TKO victory on Dana White’s Contender Series earlier this year.

— Raimondi

Men’s flyweight: Jimmy Flick (16-5, 1-0 UFC) defeats Cody Durden (11-3-1, 0-1-1 UFC) by first-round submission

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Cody Durden drops Jimmy Flick towards the end of Round 1, but Flick pulls a triangle choke out of nowhere and finishes Durden at UFC Fight Night.

Submission ace Jimmy Flick didn’t even require a takedown to tap Cody Durden, as he locked up a flying triangle in the very first round of his UFC debut.

Flick (16-5), of Tulsa, Oklahoma, submitted Durden (11-3-1) just 3:18 into the opening round, despite taking some early damage in the flyweight contest. Flick leapt into a flying triangle immediately after throwing a head kick, and finished the fight off his back. It was his 14th career win by submission.

It was a quick flip in momentum by Flick, who spent the first minutes of the fight defending bad positions and trying to get out of the way of Durden’s jab. Durden took Flick’s back in the opening minute of the fight, and landed several shots from back mount. After Flick was able to get back to his feet, Durden dictated much of the standup with a crisp jab.

Durden’s one mistake could barely even be called that. He caught a head kick attempt from Flick, which opened the door for Flick to jump into the flying triangle attempt. Durden fought the triangle for several moments, standing over Flick, before eventually submitting.

A former Contender Series alum, Flick has now won his past four fights via submission. It is his eighth career finish in the first round.

— Okamoto

Watch this fight on ESPN+.

Lightweight: Christos Giagos (18-8, 3-2 UFC) defeats Carlton Minus (10-3, 0-2 UFC) by unanimous decision

Giagos was scheduled for this show-opening fight only on Wednesday, brought in as a replacement after not having competed since the summer of 2019. But he came in prepared.

Giagos took down Minus less than a minute into the fight and dominated him on the ground in a big way throughout the first two rounds. He tired in Round 3, but by then he had such a big lead in the bank that he just had to steer clear of a Minus desperation shot.

The domination was enough to give Giagos, a 30-year-old from Hawthorne, California, who was the biggest favorite of Saturday’s card at -360, a decision victory with scores of 30-26, 30-27 and 30-28.

The best that could be said of Minus is that he survived. He was taken down four times, and it might have been more if he’d had the ability to get the fight back to standing. Instead, he repeatedly surrendered dominant positions to Giagos, who threatened finishes throughout — the submission setups and ground-and-pound beatdowns came one after another.

Minus, 27 and from Anchorage, Alaska, has lost both of his UFC bouts. He was originally slated to face Rick Glenn, who had to pull out of the matchup at midweek.

— Wagenheim

Watch this fight on ESPN+.

Still to come:

Welterweight: Stephen Thompson (15-4-1, 11-4-1 UFC, -110) vs. Geoff Neal (13-2, 5-0 UFC, -110)
Men’s bantamweight: Jose Aldo (28-7, 10-6 UFC, -150) vs. Marlon Vera (16-6-1, 10-5 UFC, +125)
Welterweight: Michel Pereira (24-11, 2-2 UFC, -125) vs. Khaos Williams (11-1, 2-0 UFC, +105)
Men’s bantamweight: Marlon Moraes (23-7-1, 5-3 UFC, -150) vs. Rob Font (17-4, 7-3 UFC, +125)


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