Santiago Ponzinibbio rallies late to knock Alex Morono out at UFC 282
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, December 10, 2022, for UFC 282, headlined by a vacant light-heavyweight championship affair between no. 3 ranked former champion Jan Blachowicz (29-9) and no. 4 ranked Magomed Ankalaev (18-1).
Co-headlining the event was a lightweight encounter between former Cage Warriors featherweight champion Paddy Pimblett (19-3) and former CFFC featherweight champion Jared Gordon (19-5).
Our feature fight of the evening came at a catchweight of 180 lbs between Santiago Ponzinibbio (28-6) and Alex Morono (22-7).
Ponzinibbio was originally slated to face former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler tonight. However, Lawler was forced from the bout with an injury a couple weeks back, and he was replaced by the surging Morono.
Ponzinibbio came into tonight’s bout having gone 1-3 since returning from a two-plus year absence; he’d won seven-straight prior to catching the injury bug that forced him out of action for so long. Morono on the other hand came in having won his last four-straight bouts.
Click here for UFC 282 results
Continue reading to see how this epic catchweight encounter went down:
Official Result: Santiago Ponzinibbio def. Alex Morono via TKO (punches) at 2:29 of round three
https://twitter.com/SpinninBackfist/status/1601798187731148800?s=20&t=o_hm3awfsGv7c0Z9bO3S7g
Both men look sharp on the feet in the early goings of the bout.
Morono is loading up on a lot of his punches, he’s really swinging for the fences, and it worked for him late as he drops Ponzinibbio toward the end of the first, ending the round in top position.
Morono also drops Ponzinibbio in the second, though he fails to follow him to the mat, allowing him back to his feet and continue striking.
Ponzinibbio lands a few hard overhand rights and some nice leg kicks throughout the second as well.
It would seem that Morono is up 20-18 going into round three.
Ponzinibbio gets back to work with his boxing in the third and final round, but he gets caught and hurt badly with a punch in the middle of a combination. Morono is only able to land a single follow up shot however, and Ponzinibbio is able to recover.
Ponzinibbio then lands a vicious overhand right of his own that badly hurts Morono, and he follows up with another to secure the knockout victory late in the fight.
Santiago Ponzinibbio snaps Alex Morono’s four-fight win streak with this victory, and he snaps his two-fight losing skid in the process.
Ten fights and ten straight finishes to start off UFC 282, what an incredible night of fights this has been.
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