Battle-tested, aged veterans Santiago Ponzinibbio and Muslim Salikhov threw down at altitude at UFC Denver on Saturday.
At age 37 Salikhov was still going strong, but since then he had lost three out of four, bringing him to age forty when the Sanda kickboxing specialist stepped into the cage. Across from him stood the Argentine, Ponzinibbio, a man who was once highly ranked at welterweight before a medical issue stole three years of his career. With a 2-4 record since returning he has not looked the same as the fighter who was 9-2 in the UFC before that, but at 37-years old himself he had a three year youth advantage over Muslim. That did not help him in the end though, as Salikhov came out on top with a tight split decision win.
Ponzinibbio came out in the first round jabbing and advancing while Salikhov kicked and circled. The first two minutes were largely a feeling out process, but then a powerful kick combination from the Dagestani seemed to herald a step up in intensity. Santiago followed suit and began pressuring harder and chucking over hands at his opponent with recklessness. However Salikhov avoided that and got back to center, where the red bruising now on Ponzinibbio’s midsection became apparent. The Argentine had trouble landing with consistency but in the face of that high aggression Salikhov began to slow down as the round wore to a close and had a cut begin leaking onto his nose.
The second round began with Ponzi advancing again, throwing leg kicks of his own and giving ground when his foe returned fire. Salikhov attacked in bursts and usually mixed in one of his spinning kicks. He had little success with this until a punch caught Santiago and made him back up on wobbly legs. A follow-up spinning kick rocked him more, but the slow pace of the 40-year-old Salikhov allowed Ponzi to recover. The Argentine did not slow down his aggression and routinely ran into shots as he blitzed Muslim, but still wore him down.
Salikhov shot a takedown with two minutes left and got it, but could not hold his foe down. He got back to controlling the space but his lack of speed was such that the wild blitzes of Ponzinibbio caught him more than they should have. Santiago shot his own takedown with thirty seconds left in the round. He got it, but was only able to hold his opponent in a seated position against the fence, stalled until the horn.
With the score up in the air, round three meant everything to the fight’s outcome. Unfortunately, both veterans were puffing by that point and could not truly damage the other. It was a fairly even sparring-esque striking battle until Ponzinibbio took down Salikhov and held him down for the final minute, though he did no damage.
When the scorecards were revealed after a tightly contested bout, Muslim Salikhov was awarded the decision with two 29-28 scorecards going his way. At age forty, a win in the UFC is impressive, especially in a co-main event.
Official Result: Muslim Salikhov def. Santiago Ponzinibbio by Split Decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
