Santiago Ponzinibbio could be forgiven for feeling a little emotional heading into his bout with Li Jingliang at UFC on ABC 1 on Saturday night.
The Argentine welterweight will be making his first appearance inside the UFC octagon since his fourth-round knockout of Neil Magny back in November 2018. Since that win, a succession of unfortunate luck with illness threatened not just to delay his return, but threaten his entire career, as he battled a staph infection, then a bone infection in his leg.
Now Ponzinibbio is back to full fitness and ready to go. He made weight at Friday’s official weigh-ins after tipping the scale at 171 pounds, then, during his faceoff with Jingliang, produced a banner paying tribute to Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona, who passed away in November.
.@SPonzinibbioMMA and @UFCJingliang honored the late Diego Maradona during their pre-fight faceoff. 🇦🇷⚽#UFCFightIsland7 | More: https://t.co/LOiMnTmKXP pic.twitter.com/9WODduSAUz
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) January 15, 2021
For the initiated, Maradona is considered a deity in his homeland, and led a largely workmanlike Argentina side all the way to win the 1986 World Cup, as he almost single-handedly dragged the team to the title in Mexico.
Ponzinibbio will be the first to admit that he will never achieve the god-like status of the man considered by many to be soccer’s greatest-ever player, but he’ll hope to do his bit to lift sporting spirits back home with a win on his return on “UFC Fight Island” on Saturday night.
The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.
