LAS VEGAS – Santiago Ponzinibbio knew he was minutes away from another setback.
On the main card of UFC 282, the Argentina-born welterweight found himself down two rounds in a 180-pound catchweight bout against short-notice opponent Alex Morono. Ponzinibbio’s corner believed it, the fighter believed it, and two of the three official judges cageside also thought he lost the first two frames.
That’s when Ponzinibbio (29-6 MMA, 11-5 UFC) heeded the advice of his corner to go out in the final round and “do something” to change the direction of the fight to prevent his third straight loss. Ponzinibbio then took the judges out of the equation by finishing Morono (22-8 MMA, 11-5 UFC) with a pair of hard right hands to win the fight by TKO in the middle of the round.
“My corner told me, ‘Man, we probably lose the two rounds, you need to do something,” Ponzinibbio told reporters at the post-fight news conference. “I go forward, I try to put my right hand, and thank God I take it.”
The late opponent change was a new challenge for Ponzinnibio. He was originally scheduled to face Robbie Lawler, but the former champion was forced out of the fight due to injury just a few days ahead of the contest. Morono, who entered on a nice winning streak, presented a different skillset that took some time for Ponzinibbio to figure out.
“If you talk about the names, Robbie Lawler is a legend, but if you talk the momentum, this kid have better momentum,” Ponzinibbio said. “He won eight of his last 10 fights in the UFC. Four in a row. Robbie is not coming the same way.”
Ponzinibbio believes the win should earn him a top 10 challenge in his next outing, which he would like to take place soon after competing twice in 2022.
Check out Ponzinibbio’s full post-fight interview in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 282.
