Once they light the fuse, fireworks become all but a foregone
conclusion.
Santiago
Ponzinibbio will draw his first assignment of 2022 when he
collides with
Michel
Pereira in the
UFC Fight Night 206 co-main event on Saturday at the UFC Apex
in Las Vegas, as the
Ultimate Fighting Championship pairs together two of its
tried-and-true welterweight action heroes. Ponzinibbio has piled up
eight wins across his past 10 appearances. However, “The Ultimate
Fighter Brazil” Season 2 finalist finds himself on the rebound
following a split decision defeat to
Geoff Neal at
UFC 269 on Dec. 11. Pereira, meanwhile, enters the Octagon on the
strength of a four-fight winning streak. He last competed at UFC
270, where he laid claim to a unanimous verdict over
Andre
Fialho on Jan. 22.
As Ponzinibbio and Pereira move closer to their anticipated
showdown at 170 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have
accompanied them to this point:
35: Years of age for Ponzinibbio, who was born in La Plata,
Argentina, on Sept. 26, 1986.
15: Ponzinibbio victories by knockout or technical knockout,
accounting for 54% of his career total (28). His list of UFC
victims:
Neil Magny,
Gunnar
Nelson,
Court McGee,
Andreas
Stahl and
Wendell
de Oliveira Marques. Ponzinibbio holds six other victories by
submission and seven more by decision.
9: Knockdowns credited to Ponzinibbio as a UFC welterweight,
placing him eighth on the promotion’s all-time list at 170 pounds.
He trails only
Thiago Alves
(13),
Jake
Ellenberger (11),
Matt Brown
(10),
Tyron
Woodley (10),
Stephen
Thompson (10),
Kamaru
Usman (10) and
Vicente
Luque (10).
121: Significant strikes landed by Ponzinibbio in a three-round
unanimous decision over
Miguel
Baeza at UFC Fight Night 189 on June 5, 2021. It established a
personal benchmark for the
American Top Team representative.
.759: Cumulative winning percentage between the five
opponents—Neal,
Jingliang
Li,
Lorenz
Larkin,
Ryan
LaFlare and
Leonardo
Mafra Texeira—who have defeated Ponzinibbio. They boast a
combined record of 85-27.