Geoff Neal Verbally Agrees To Face Santiago Ponzinibbio At UFC 269
The No.10 seed Geoff Neal is set to battle Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC 269 at the end of this year.
The news was first reported by ESPN’s sports and MMA analyst, Brett Okamoto. Okamoto announced on Twitter that both sides have reached an agreement and the fight has been added to the stacked UFC 269 card, which will feature two championship fights.
The venue and the location haven’t been disclosed yet. But it is very likely that it will be in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Neal is coming off two consecutive losses against Stephen Thompson and Neil Magny in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
Neal last appeared in the octagon in May where he was well beaten by fellow American Neil Magny. The 31-year-old will be looking to brush off this patch of bad form and get back on track with a win against the Argentinian, Ponzinibbio.
Before his loss to Thompson in late 2020, Neal was undefeated in the UFC and had recorded some notable wins over the likes of Belal Muhammad, Niko Price and Mike Perry.
He was also considered a genuine title contender for the welterweight title, but recent bad form and health scares have set him back.
Now, he has a chance to rectify his short comings and secure a victory against Ponzinibbio at UFC 269.
On the other hand, Ponzinibbio appeared against Miguel Baeza in June. The Argentinian is back on the winning ways after his rather surprising KO loss to Li Jingliang at the start of the year.
This was against all odds, but Ponzinibbio was able to gather himself and won a hard-fought decision against Baeza in his next fight. Now he will be looking to carry this momentum and regain his lost spot in the top 10.
Here’s the updated fight card for the UFC 269:
- Charles Oliveira vs. Dustin Poirier
- Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Pena
- Leon Edwards vs. Jorge Masvidal
- Geoff Neal vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
- Dominick Cruz vs. Pedro Munhoz
- Sean O’Malley vs. Raulian Paiva
- Randy Costa vs. Tony Kelley
- Cody Garbrandt vs. Kai Kara-France
- Priscila Cachoeira vs. Gillian Robertson
- Maycee Barber vs. opponent TBA
- Dricus Du Plessis vs. Andre Muniz
- Alex Perez vs. Matt Schnell
- Ryan Hall vs. Darrick Minner