S. Ponzinibbio celebrates victory in the UFC. Photo: Reproduction/Facebook ufcbrasil
With a sincere response from the corner, Santiago Ponzinibbio managed to rescue the strength that was missing during the fight against alex morono, at the 'UFC 282', an event held on December 10th. With an opponent who entered at the last minute, the Argentine did not meet for two rounds of the fight. About to go into the final round, Santiago questioned who was ahead on the scoreboard and his coaches chose to tell the truth.
“I asked my head coach, 'How do you think the fight is going?' He told me 2-0. My coach told me that Morono had two rounds and that I needed to do something. I said, 'Okay, let's go!' I entered the third round to throw hard punches to finish the fight. I know if I connect, I can finish. Anyone in this division, if I connect hard, I can finish them off. That's what I did”, said Santiago in an interview with 'MMA Fighting'.
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In addition to the coach's motivation, Ponzinibbio also had his job in mind. At a delicate moment in the organization, the Argentine was coming off two defeats and knew that to continue with his dream of winning the belt, he needed to win the fight.
"It's not easy. That's a lot of information buzzing around your head. I'm coming off two defeats, I'm hurt, I'm tired. It's hard to take this guy down, he moves well, but this is the point where we're hurt and we use him. This is the point where we say: Screw it, I don't care if I'm tired. I'm going to finish this guy off. That's what I'm going to do'”, said the fighter.
Brazil in sight?
Currently 14th in the welterweight rankings (up to 77,1kg), Santiago wants a top 10 in the category, to shorten his path to the belt. By pointing out two fighters of his preference, the Brazilian Vincent Luque did not stay out.
“I want to fight someone in the top 10 to have an opportunity to get the belt soon. A really fun fight we could make in the top 10 is Vincent Luque. He is a good 'striker' (athletes opt for standing). We can have a bonus fight for sure. Stephen Thompson It's a big fight. We have a lot of names in the division. Let’s see what the UFC is thinking, but I’m very excited,” concluded Santiago.
A veteran of the organization, Ponzinibbio has 16 fights in the UFC. After being out of action for a long time, due to health problems, the Argentine returned in 2021 and since then, he has had two wins and three defeats.
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