Another fight weekend is in the books. Last weekend’s UFC card looked bad, but it wound up delivering some action at the top: a main event that I (rightfully) scorned at least gave us a nice KO, when Jairzinho Rozenstruik decided to actually throw a punch for a change and knocked out Augusto Sakai with just one second left in the first round.
Now, we turn our attention to UFC 263, the loaded pay-per-view set to emanate from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona on Saturday. I’ll have more about the big card coming up this week, but for now, here’s a look at three fighters outside the main event who boosted their stock this week:
At the end of 2018, Santiago Ponzinibbio’s stock was surging out of control. A seven-fight win streak, punctuated by a stirring beatdown of Neil Magny in front of his home fans in Argentina, had made Ponzinibbio one of the most in-demand welterweight contenders in the UFC. By that time, Ponzinibbio had pulled himself within spitting distance of a world title shot – and with the power, aggression and toughness he had displayed to that point, one could easily envision Ponzinibbio becoming the first-ever Argentine world champion.
None of that happened. Serious health issues waylaid the momentum that took Ponzinibbio three years to build, and Li Jingliang finished the job when he knocked a frightfully slow-looking Ponzinibbio out in the first round of his return fight in January. Ponzinibbio still had a name as a one-time top contender and two-time UFC main eventer, but against Miguel Baeza, one of the most well-regarded welterweight prospects in the world, he was in danger of losing even that.
And for the first half of the fight, it wasn’t looking good. Ponzinibbio came out much sharper and more aggressive than he did against Li five months ago, but Baeza had an extremely well-calculated gameplan: every time Ponzinibbio moved into range Baeza was chopping the lead leg with thudding calf kicks, deadening Ponzinibbio’s leg and causing him to start having serious trouble with his footing.
That flow continued in the first half of the second. With three minutes and 40 seconds remaining in the frame, commentator Michael Bisping said, and I quote, “It’s not looking good for Santiago.” And with about two minutes to go in the second round, it started to feel like a fait accompli that Ponzinibbio was heading for a decision loss.
By that time, Ponzinibbio had seven minutes. Seven minutes to save his career. Seven minutes to turn the ship around and steal his first win in almost three years. And with the most dire stakes he’s ever faced in his UFC career, Santiago Ponzinibbio bit down on his mouthpiece, and he did the damn thing.
Santiago Ponzinibbio-Miguel Baeza will go down as one of the Fights of the Year for 2021, for the dramatic swing of momentum as much as the wild, action-packed exchanges in the third round. Having had his lead leg chopped to pieces for almost two full rounds, Ponzinibbio’s movement was heavily compromised. He had to be feeling great pain every time he advanced to attack. He gritted it out, ignored it all, and took the fight to Baeza.
It was as if Ponzinibbio sensed the moment, knew that he needed to turn things up in a decisive way. Ponzinibbio forced himself forward, turning up the pressure dramatically, establishing a piston jab and letting loose with the hands. In a matter of moments, you could feel the tide shift. Things had come to the undefeated Baeza so easily so far in his UFC career, but all of a sudden, he wasn’t driving in one-way traffic. And once Baeza saw Ponzinibbio push through the pain and come at him even harder, you could see the 28-year-old’s confidence start to ebb.
Ponzinibbio started to avoid Baeza’s kicks and even land some of his own, turning the third round into a war, one of the best rounds of the year, and one that he was much better equipped to succeed in. As they so often do, the jab and the kicks opened up the power punches, and Ponzinibbio landed some big ones late.
It still wasn’t quite the Santiago Ponzinibbio we saw three years ago, but we got some glimpses. It certainly was a hell of a lot better than what we saw against Li. And with that fantastic comeback, Santiago Ponzinibbio has put himself back on the map.
Here’s a trivia question for you: which three fighters are tied for the longest current win streak in the UFC heavyweight division? Francis Ngannou? OK, that was an easy one: the reigning world champion has five straight KO victories since his loss to Derrick Lewis in July 2018.
So who’s with him? Yup, there’s Ciryl Gane, of course, possibly the next great star at heavyweight, who’s won all five of his bouts since signing with the UFC in 2019. Who’s left? Is it Lewis, who appears to be the next man up for a title shot? Nope, he’s only won four in a row. How about Alexander Volkov, who’s just been killing dudes lately? No, he’s only won two. What about some ranked fighter that’s somewhat off the beaten path, like Tom Aspinall, Chris Daukaus or even the long-forgotten Shamil Abdurakhimov?
Nope, nope and nope. It’s Marcin Tybura, the 35-year-old Polish grappler who suddenly finds himself on the run of his life, having stretched his win streak to five with a first-round TKO of Walt Harris on Saturday night. At the end of 2019, Tybura’s stock was at a low, after eating consecutive KO losses to Abdurakhimov and Augusto Sakai – the latter was his fourth loss out of five. He’s roared back since, and is making himself a factor at heavyweight.
Marcin Tybura has always been eminently hittable, and Walt Harris is explosive, hits hard, and always looks really good right out of the gate. They call him the Big Ticket, but that ticket only gets you into the venue for about two minutes. That could have been a recipe for disaster for Tybura, and it almost was: Harris swarmed on him early in the fight and hurt him bad with a hard left hook, but Tybura was able to tie him up and ride out the danger.
From there, Tybura took the fight where he wanted to go. Tybura landed a fantastic trip takedown after catching a kick, ended up on top, and from there it was a straight line to a victory: Harris couldn’t get the big man off him, Tybura took his back, and brought down a steady stream of ground-and-pound that forced the referee to step in.
A lot of Tybura victories follow a similar formula: his win over Greg Hardy in December took an almost identical tack, only it took Tybura a little bit longer to assert control. Tybura knows how to smother an opponent and attack for a finish on the ground, and if you can’t put him away on the feet, he can really make your life hell if he can get into the clinch.
That’s what he’s done to quite a few opponents during this win streak, saving his UFC career and almost surely elevating himself into the top 10 of the rankings. And as of right now, tied with Ngannou and Gane, he’s in some pretty damn good company.
We’ve all been begging, absolutely begging, for an interesting new contender to arise in a women’s flyweight division that has been almost completely cleared out by the legendary Valentina Shevchenko. I’m very high on the talented and athletic Miranda Maverick, but she’s a few steps away, there’s no one on the 125-pound rankings who catches the imagination.
Well, we at last may have someone coming down the pipe. Meet 31-year-old French karate champion Manon Fiorot, who may already be one of the most polished and powerful female strikers employed by the UFC:
A quick caveat to Fiorot’s win on Saturday. Opponent Tabatha Ricci took the fight on short notice, was making her UFC debut, and has spent most of her young career fighting at strawweight – it was very stark in the cage just how much bigger the 5-foot-7 Fiorot looked. Even so, Fiorot’s striking chops were very impressive, and it was mostly one-way traffic before she turned up the heat in the second and earned the finish.
Fiorot made her debut on Fight Island against Victoria Leonardo in January, and she caught my eye then – her karate-based striking style recalls Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, and she looked absolutely awesome before dispatching Leonardo with a head kick in the second round. This fight against a very game Ricci was just another showcase. Fiorot is already good at keeping her opponents at her preferred range even when she isn’t twice their size, and it seemed like child’s play against Ricci. She mixes her kicks and punches very well, pieced together fantastic combinations, and impressed with a pure punching power that you don’t see very often in women’s MMA.
Fiorot still has a lot of tests she needs to pass before we can proclaim her ready for a fighter like Shevchenko, of course. In two UFC fights, she’s been on the front foot the entire time – we need to see how she fares against someone who can make her move backwards or really threaten to take her down. Ricci, a good grappler, tried her best to get her on the ground, but was just too small to make it happen.
But for now, keep an eye on Manon Fiorot. That striking game could be something really special.
The Big Fight 