Santiago Ponzinibbio Gets Past Iron Chinned Mike Perry, Calls for Interim Title Fight

Santiago Ponzinibbio didn't get a knockout on Saturday night but it wasn't for a lack of trying.

The Argentinean born welterweight poured on the punishment over three rounds in an absolute slugfest with Mike Perry, who might just have the best chin in the entire sport of mixed martial arts.

In typical Perry fashion, he was the aggressor with Ponzinibbio opting to circle on the outside, looking for counter strikes while kicking away at the legs during the early going.

Ponzinibbio's plan seemed to be working early with him landing several good kicks that whipped Perry's leg out from under him. Unfortunately for Ponzinibbio, he just couldn't seem to find his range with his punches and that allowed Perry time to begin loading up on his shots with each one looking like a knockout just waiting to happen.

Perry managed to tag Ponzinibbio with a couple of really hard shots that got his attention and the Argentinean fighter was definitely wary of his power after those exchanges.

The same could be said in the second round with Perry blasting Ponzinibbio with a pair of striking combinations that seemingly wobbled the former “Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” competitor, although he recovered quickly.

As the round wore on, Ponzinibbio started depending more on his lead jab while peppering away at Perry's legs, which started to give him trouble whenever he was planting on his punches.

Ponzinibbio's accuracy was a huge weapon for him as he started to press forward with combinations including a staggering left hand that was landing at will with Perry's concrete chin saving him from a potential knockout.

Perry did fire back late in the round with Ponzinibbio beginning to slow down as both fighters were wearing the signs of this back and forth war on their faces.

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The third round saw Ponzinibbio land his best strike of the fight when he caught Perry coming in with a beautiful spinning back fist that floored the iron chinned welterweight. Ponzinibbio did his best to get the finish on the ground but Perry quickly recovered and worked his way back to the feet.

As time ticked away, Ponzinibbio decided to take Perry down to the ground as each of them was looking low on reserves after battling it out for nearly 15 minutes on the feet.

When it was over, Ponzinibbio got the nod on the judges' scorecards with all three giving him the win 29-28 over Perry.

Following the win, Ponzinibbio acknowledged welterweight champion Tyron Woodley being injured right now and heading for shoulder surgery so he suggested an interim title fight against the winner of Saturday night's main event.

“Give me the opportunity for interim belt for the winner of tonight Rafael dos Anjos or Robbie Lawler,” Ponzinibbio said. “The winner of tonight, fight me for the interim belt.

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