Santiago Ponzinibbio interested in Colby Covington fight - ‘I’d knock him out’

Colby Covington parted ways with American Top Team (ATT) because of the ongoing beef he had with several of his stablemates, including Dustin Poirier and Jorge Masvidal. Now that he is no longer a part of the famed gym — home to numerous former champions — the atmosphere seems to be much better.

That’s according to Santiago Ponzinibbio, who recently told MMA Junkie that leaving was the only option for Covington after creating all of the tension. And while he never had anything personal against “Chaos,” Ponzinibbio says they were never friends, even if they did share training sessions.

“Friendship we never had,” he said. “I did train with him, but never friendship. I have nothing against him. He was never really my friend. We did share trainings a few times because we shared the same coach, Mike Brown. So we shared coach, and we would sometimes get together with Mikey and share a class, but nothing more than that.”

To that end, “Gente Boa” says a fight against Covington would be fireworks, claiming he’d even knockout the trash-talking combatant.

“It was always work and professionalism and nothing more. I think he’s a great athlete. He’s a top guy in the division, and that’s a fight that would interest me. I think it’s a good match up for me, and I think I’d knock him out and win. It’s a fight that interests me a lot.”

Ponzinibbio seems to be a forgotten man in the stacked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight division. Winner of seven in a row — including big wins over Neil Magny, Mike Perry and Gunnar Nelson — the Argentinian-born fighter has been on the sidelines since mid-2018 with an injury, preventing him from making a push into the Top 15. A win over Covington — who is coming off a big victory over Tyron Woodley — could be what he needs to get him back in the mix.

Interested?