After his crushing, fourth-round KO of Neil Magny in the UFC Argentina main event, Santiago Ponzinibbio wants a shot a UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. That being said, it doesn’t sound like the Argentine knockout artist expects to get his desired fight with the welterweight king.
Woodley essentially told Ponzinibbio to get in line post-fight, and now the streaking Argentine feels like he’s being ducked.
“I understand why [Woodley] says that,” Santiago Ponzinibbio said at the UFC Argentina post-fight press conference (via MMAjunkie). “He wants to hold on to his title as long as possible.
“He knows that if he does fight me, I’m going to knock him out and take it, so he wants to keep extending his reign for as long as he can. That’s why he keeps saying I have a long way to go.”
With his desired fight with Woodley apparently off the table for now, Santiago Ponzinibbio says he’s interested in a fight with the winner of Rafael dos Anjos and Kamaru Usman’s TUF 28 Finale scrap as a consolation prize. In his eyes, this is a matchup that would make sense.
“It’s not math,” Ponzinibbio said. “It’s not just the numbers; the division shifts a lot. But it would be a great fight, and I’m really looking forward to one of those.”
Another fight that makes sense for Santiago Ponzinibbio at a glance is one with British striker Darren Till, who recently came up short in a title fight with Woodley. Yet while this fight makes sense on paper, and would almost certainly produce fireworks, Ponzinibbio says he’s not very interested in it based on Darren Till’s history of failed weight cuts.
“I don’t see him as a very professional athlete,” Ponzinibbio said. “I think he missed weight a few times. So there are other fights that I’m more interested in than him.”
Whatever the case, Ponzinibbio is keen to stake his claim to a title shot with a win over a top-5 foe.
“I think I deserve a top-five fight, and I think after tonight’s victory, I might climb to that position,” he said. “I’m looking for a title shot all the way. Maybe I’ll need one more fight, but that’s my objective going forward.”
Who do you want to see Santiago Ponzinibbio fight next after his UFC Argentina defeat of Neil Magny?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/18/2018.