The best and worst from UFC Fight Night 140: Magny vs. Ponzinibbio
The UFC broke into another new market with UFC Fight Night 140 – this time Argentina – and it’s pretty safe to say that the show was a resounding success. Sure, it was low on name value, but the show delivered in spades in terms of entertaining fights, and at the end of the day that’s the most important thing, right?
Of the 10 televised fights, just 3 went the distance, and of those, the prelim between Laureano Staropoli and Hector Aldana was pretty exciting if a bit sloppy. Elsewhere we got a bunch of fun finishes and a lot of aggressively-fought matches, and most of it ranged from good to great.
Here are the best and worst moments of UFC Fight Night 140.
#1 Best: The Ponz sends his fans home happy
The main event saw a great performance from native Argentine Santiago Ponzinibbio, as he systematically destroyed fellow Welterweight contender Neil Magny over a period of 4 rounds. Despite the length of the fight it never truly felt like Magny was in it, and from the moment he was badly hurt late in the first round, it only felt like a matter of time before he’d be finished.
It was one of the most complete performances of Ponzinibbio’s career – he applied pressure, corralled Magny into the fence while cutting off the angles and refusing to follow his opponent, and hit him with a mix of nasty jabs, right hands and in particular, savage leg kicks that had Magny hopping around.
There could’ve been an argument for Magny’s corner stopping the fight as every time Ponzinibbio landed a low kick by the 4th round, the American was unable to stand, but in the end it didn’t matter as ‘Gente Boa’ turned his lights out anyway with a nasty right hand that left him face down, unconscious.
The win marked Ponzinibbio’s 7th victory in a row – the second-best streak in the division behind the much-feared Kamaru Usman – and in fact, with champion Tyron Woodley likely to defend against Colby Covington next, a fight between Ponzinibbio and the winner of Usman’s upcoming fight with Rafael Dos Anjos might be good to decide the next top contender at 170lbs.
Even if he never secures a title shot though, Ponzinibbio will always have this victory to look back on as a high point – the main event win in front of his countrymen. It was pretty awesome.