Argentina is back🇦🇷🔥 Veterans battled it out on Saturday, July 13th at 1️⃣7️⃣0️⃣ Libra❗️Follow
vs Muslim Salikhov pic.twitter.com/FoWAjnAevU
— UFC Espanyol (@UFCEspanol)
May 31, 2024
The Ultimate Fighting Championship will host a striker’s delight fight in Denver in July.
The organization announced Friday that Santiago Ponzinibbio (29-7) and Muslim Salikov (19-5) will face off on July 13. The two welterweights will collide on a currently unnumbered UFC Fight Night card at Denver’s Ball Arena. They have a combined 29 knockouts between them over their lengthy careers, with 20 of those coming in the first round.
This will be Ponzinibbio’s first fight in over a year, his last one ending in failure after he was hit by a hard left hook from Kevin Holland. The fighter now known as “The Argentine Dagger” has struggled recently, losing three of his last four fights. After two split decision losses to Geoff Neal and Michel Pereira, he advanced to a bout with Alex Morono, where he beat the Texan with punches in the third round.
A master of the spinning kick, Salikhov has the same record over the past few years as his opponent, going 1-3. The Russian lost two straight fights in 2023, losing by decision to Nicolas Dalby and then by knockout to Randy Brown in February. His only win since 2022 came against Andre Fialho, where he took down the Portuguese striker with a spinning wheel kick and follow-up punches.
UFC Denver takes place at Ball Arena in Colorado’s capital city on July 13, with Maycee Barber facing Rose Namajunas in the flyweight main event. The rest of the schedule has yet to be finalized, but likely high up the line will be a flyweight showdown between Vivian Araujo and Jasmine Jasudavicius, a welterweight showdown between Gabriel Bonfim and Ange Roza, and a 145-pound showdown between Cristian Rodriguez and Julian Erosa.
