Daniel Rodriguez delivered a third round TKO finish against Santiago Ponzinibbio tonight at UFC On ESPN 67.
Round One
Rodriguez with a jab to start. Inside leg kick for D-Rod. He lands a grazing jab. Now he targets the midsection with a jab.
Inside leg kick for Ponzinibbio. D-Rod goes to the body with a punch again. Leg kick again from Ponzinibbio. High body kick from Ponzinibbio.
Jabs from Rodriguez to the head and now to the body. Low kick from Ponzinibbio got D-Rod’s attention. Punches from Rodriguez. Solid body kick from Ponzinibbio.
D-Rod triples up on the jab, but Ponzinibbio glides away from that. Ponzinibbio thinks about a takedown, but nothing doing. Slip from Ponzinibbio and Rodriguez lands a left hook that wobbles his opponent and has him backing up. Rodriguez continues pressing forward trying to capitalize and fires off more strikes. Ponzinibbio fires off a couple of punches to try to deter D-Rod.
Rodriguez continues to pressure late in the round and Ponzinibbio swings for the fences without any real accuracy to keep him at bay.
Round Two
One-two from Ponzinibbio. Body punch from Rodriguez and then to the head. Low kick for Ponzinibbio. Punch for Rodriguez. He lands the jab again.
Body punch from Ponzinibbio. Hook for Rodriguez then back to the jab. Low kick for D-Rod. Ponzinibbio staying active. He lands a nice punch and D-Rod fires back with a punch of his own.
Jabs exchanged. High kick attempt from Rodriguez. Inside leg kick and two punches behind it from Rodriguez. Ponzinibbio attempts a takedown, but it’s defended nicely.
One-two for Ponzinibbio and then attempts a takedown again without success. Front kick to the body from Rodriguez. Big swing from Ponzinibbio. He stays aggressive then lands a low kick followed by a takedown again that’s denied.
He gives up on that attempt, but Ponzinibbio tries the takedown again soon afterwards. He has to give up on that one too though.
Body kick for Ponzinibbio. Grazing right hand from him. Body kick lands for Ponzinibbio. D-Rod’s output slowing at this stage as Ponzinibbio stays busier. Another takedown attempt from Ponzinibbio and this time he does gets Rodriguez down, but without much time remaining in the round.
Round Three
Jab to the body for Rodriguez. Right hand for Ponzinibbio. Left hand from Rodriguez. Jab for Ponzinibbio. Body kick for Ponzinibbio.
Suddenly there’s a series of left and rights from D-Rod and the final left hook sends Ponzinibbio falling to the mat. D-Rod lands a single blow as he follows him down and that’s it, the ref steps in to end the fight. Rodriguez with a big TKO victory at 1.12mins of the final round!
Ponzinibbio protests the stoppage as he gets back to his feet, but he’s still rocked and staggers across the Octagon, which only confirms that it was the right decision to stop the fight.
