Geoff Neal and Santiago Ponzinibbio face off on Saturday in a mian card showdown atUFC 269 in a welterweight bout at the T-Moble Arena in Las Vegas.
Geoff “Handz of Steel” Neal comes into this fight with a 13-4 record but he has lost two fights in a row. Neal had won his first six fights inside the UFC before losing those last two fights. In his last fight against Neal Magny, he was outstruck 55-35 and that led to the unanimous decision loss. The last two wins for Neal have been by knockout, and he is going to try and hunt for that knockout in this fight. In December of 2019 against Mike Perry it was a minute and thirty seconds into the fight he won by knockout. Neal is averaging 4.42 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 4.68 significant strikes per minute Neal mostly likes to keep the fight on the feet but he is averaging 0.60 successful takedowns every 15 minutes.
On the other side of this matchup is Santiago Ponzinibbio who comes into this fight with a 29-4 record overall and he has won eight of his last nine fights. In June of 2021 he faced off against Miguel Baez and he outstruck him 121-104 which led him to the unanimous decision victory. Ponzinibbio is averaging 4.65 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 4.38 significant strikes per minute. He is also averaging 0.46 successful takedowns every 15 minutes, and he is successful on 36 percent of his takedown attempts.
Geoff Neal is coming into this fight as the underdogs, but he is going to find success in this one. Neal has the knockout power, and he is going to avoid the power of Ponzinibbio. Back Neal to win this fight and cash the plus money. This is one my favorite plays on the baord.
AUTHOR: Shane Mickle
