S. Ponzinibbio (photo) debuts in the UFC in November as a member of Team Nogueira. Photo: Reproduction/Facebook
the argentine Santiago Ponzinibbio made an important change in his career official. After reaching the final of TUF Brasil 2 fighting for the Rodrigo Minotauro, the welterweight decided to move from Florianópolis to Rio de Janeiro, where he will join Team Nogueira.
Ponzinibbio told the Combate channel website that he didn't have any problems in Santa Catarina, where he trained on the Thiago tavares. He will already be preparing for his debut fight in the UFC, at the Goiânia event, in his new home. “I left there (Team Tavares), everything is great with the people there, but I'm going to do this camp for this fight in Rio de Janeiro. I left Florianópolis, I wanted to come and train here with Minotauro, we have a good partnership here”. Team Nogueira only has great professionals, they have Everaldo Penco, Eric Albarracin, excellent athletes, they only have top athletes. My expectation is to train hard and arrive well for my fight”, said the Argentine.
Tavares' version is different. According to the UFC lightweight, Ponzinibbio wanted to continue training only jiu-jitsu in Florianópolis, which is not allowed under Team Tavares rules.
“In fact, he will not do the training camp at Team Nogueira. Some conditions were imposed on him to stay on the team, he didn't want to just stay with our team, he wanted to stay training jiu-jitsu with the team and boxing elsewhere, which is not possible. To train on our team, you have to be faithful to our teachers and athletes, so I had to make it impossible. The team's rules are as follows: we have boxing, muay thai and jiu-jitsu. Our gym is not open for training in other locations. I said that this would not be possible and that he was not part of the group”.
Despite the incompatibility, Thiago made a point of saying that there was no resentment towards the Buenos Aires fighter. “There was no resentment, on the contrary”, assured the leader of Team Tavares. “Santiago is a phenomenal guy, really determined, his willpower and heart are incredible. He's the most determined guy I've ever seen, along with Nazareno (Malegarie) and Ivan Batman. They train seven days a week. I like him a lot, but if he can't give loyalty to the team, then he can't be part of the team. It’s a closed team, we work together and only with ourselves.”
Santiago Ponzinibbio debut at the biggest event in the world against North American Ryan LaFlare, on November 9th, at the UFC, which will be held in Goiânia and will feature a rematch between Vitor belfort e Dan Henderson.
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