Daniel Rodriguez almost had Santiago Ponzinibbio out early at UFC on ESPN 67, then he got him out late.
After a near-finish in the opening round of their welterweight bout on Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, Rodriguez (19-5 MMA, 9-4 UFC) caught Ponzinibbio (30-9 MMA, 12-8 UFC) again and followed up with the TKO stoppage finish at the 1:42 mark of Round 3.
Check out the replay of Rodriguez’s finish, which Ponzinibbio protested, but he was out cold, below (via X):
After seeing his spot in the UFC on the ropes with three consecutive losses, Rodriguez has now responded with back-to-back wins over Ponzinibbio and Alex Morono, and at 38, is still ready to do more, adding a callout of Jake Matthews.
“It feel great to finally get a finish,” Rodriguez said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. “I’ve been on a rollercoaster these past six fights. I knew it was going to be a war. He was a lot tougher than I thought he was going to be.
“Jake Matthews, you’ve been talking that mess. You can get it, too.”
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN 67 results
- Daniel Rodriguez def. Santiago Ponzinibbio via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 1:12
- Montel Jackson def. Daniel Marcos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Serhiy Sidey def. Cameron Smotherman via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Mason Jones def. Jeremy Stephens via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Yana Santos def. Miesha Tate via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Azamat Bekoev def. Ryan Loder via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:44
- Gillian Robertson def. Marina Rodriguez via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 2:07
- Quang Le def. Gaston Bolanos via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:54
- Thomas Petersen def. Don’Tale Mayes via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-26)
- Juliana Miller def. Ivana Petrovic via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
