Santiago Ponzinibbio TKO’s Alex Morono In 3rd At UFC 282

Santiago Ponzinibbio emerged victorious in a hard-fought battle with short-notice replacement Alex Morono tonight at UFC 282, claiming a third round TKO Victory after being rocked himself earlier in the round.

Round One:

Body punch for Ponzinibbio. Morono with a hard right hand. Calf kick from Ponzinibbio. Morono with a couple of grazing punches.

Nice right hand from Ponzinibbio and then punches to the body. Calf kick for Ponzinibbio, but then eats a counter punch from Morono.

left hand from Ponzinibbio. Overhand right from Morono. Body punch for Ponzinibbio. Calf kick for him. Morono with a front kick to the body.

Jab from Morono. Now a stepping right hand. he lands a body kick. Ponzinibbio with a punch to the midsection and goes back to that a couple more times.

Another calf kick for Ponzinibbio. He lands to the body again now with a punch. Another leg kick from Ponzinibbio, who is now bleeding from his left eye from a clash of heads.

Heavy right hand from Ponzinibbio. Both miss with a spinning backfist and Ponzinibbio is bundled to the mat by an apparent connection from Morono. There’s not much time left in the round though and Ponzinibbio is able to survive.

Round Two:

Body punch from Ponzinibbio. Front kick to the body from Morono. Ponzinibbio goes to the body again. Morono misses on a spinning backfist attempt and stumbled forward afterwards as if his leg might have been slightly hurt by that.

Two punches from Ponzinibbio to the body. Continual work to the midsection from him. He misses going upstairs and then back to the body. Left hand for Morono. Grazing left hook from Ponzinibbio.

Big right hand from Morono drops Ponzinibbio for a brief moment. Ponzinibbio back to targeting the body.

Ponzinibbio goes to the body and then tries to land upstairs without success. Leg kick for him. Morono attempts a spinning kick, but it misses.

Nice right hand upstairs from Ponzinibbio. Body punches continue. Now a couple upstairs. Morono not offering as much this round but does try a spinning elbow.

Ponzinibbio starts throwing more punches to the head, but not landing cleanly for now. Round ends with both men landing a punch.

Round Three:

Ponzinibbio looks for punches as Morono goes for a body kick, but neither land significantly. leg kick for Ponzinibbio.

Jab for Ponzinibbio. Nice right hand from him. Body work again for Ponzinibbio. leg kick from Ponzinibbio is checked.

Jab for Ponzinibbio and then another solid left hand. Morono with an overhand that hurts Ponzinibbio and he looks a little wobbled. Morono pressing forward looking for more offense and Ponzinibbio doesn’t have his legs fully under him quite yet.

Ponzinibbio starting to stabilize now and lands the jab. Nice right hand from Ponzinibbio. Body punch.

Heavy right hand for Ponzinibbio rocks Morono and then another punch behind it floors him. He wades in looking for more punches and only gets a couple off before the ref quickly steps in to wave off the fight by TKO at 2.29mins of the third round.

Good finish for Ponzinibbio after being hurt himself earlier in the round!

Ross Cole
Ross launched MMA Insight (previously FightOfTheNight.com) in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts. He's since penned countless news stories and live fight reports along with dozens of feature articles as the lead writer for the site, reaching millions of fans in the process.