Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Muslim Salikhov squared off in a Welterweight contest earlier tonight (Sat. July 13, 2024) from Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado for UFC Denver. After a close fight, Salikhov was named the victor.
Ponzinibbio opened the fight with pressure, but Salikhov backed him up with a nasty left kick to the body. Surprisingly, the Russian seemed the faster man through the first half of the round, making Ponzinbbio miss and stinging him with quick strikes. The Argentinian began to find his mark in the second half of the round, pressuring his foe into the cage to land a couple combinations. One left hook hurt Salikhov, but when Ponzinibbio tried to press his advantage, Salikhov hurt him in return with a counter uppercut.
All in all, it was a violent and competitive round from the veteran strikers.
The kickboxing battle continued into the second, and Ponzinibbio stayed on the pressure. He began to add more low kicks into his attack to good effect. Salikhov stung Ponzinibbio with a stiff left hook then knocked him back with his signature spin kick. Ponzinibbio recovered well and stayed in his opponent’s face, forcing a failed takedown attempt from Salikhov. Though he was still landing reasonably well, the pace seemed to be getting to Salikhov. Still, the pace was high from both given their age and the altitude.
Ponzinibbio finished the close round with a takedown along the fence.
It really felt like the entire fight was up for grabs with five minutes remaining. Neither man was backing away from exchanges, but nor could they really pull away. It was a lot of tit-for-tat striking until Ponzinibbio scored his second takedown of the fight with about 90 seconds remaining in the fight. It wasn’t exciting, but Ponzinibbio controlled from top position until nearly the final bell … though he didn’t land anything significant in the process.
Ultimately, two of the three judges sided with Muslim Salikhov. It was the classic case of one fighter being a touch more accurate while also working from the back foot. It’s hard to feel too strongly about the decision one way or another, because it really was just that close.
Beyond the decision itself, this was a solid performance from Salikhov. Against an aggressive opponent, he stuck to his game plan and stayed sharp for 15 minutes. He still has a lot left in the tank even at 40 years of age, even if he’s reached his overall ceiling inside the Octagon.
Result: Muslim Salikhov defeats Santiago Ponzinibbio via split-decision
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