UFC Vegas 101 video: Santiago Ponzinibbio stops Carlston Harris with barrage of punches in final round

Santiago Ponzinibbio nearly had his night ended early but instead he came back with a finish of his own after stopping Carlston Harris in the third round at UFC Vegas 101.

The blistering welterweight co-main event saw Harrison drop Ponzinibbio in the opening frame and the Brazilian did everything possible to get the finish but he just couldn’t do enough to end the fight. Ponzinibbio took time to recover between rounds and then came out guns blazing with a new level of confidence.

Finally in the third round, Ponzinibbio started connecting with accuracy and power and Harris was starting to fade. The end came in somewhat controversial fashion after Ponzinibbio unleashed a barrage of punches but Harris was still on his feet during the final sequence.

Still, referee Kerry Hatley thought he saw enough to stop the fight with the end coming at 3:13 in the final round.

“I put my heart [out there] one more time,” Ponzinibbio said about the win. “This is what I do inside the cage. I’m here fighting with the best guys in the world.”

When the fight started it appeared Harris’ size and length might be a problem as he kept finding a way to land with his long, rangy punches and Ponzinibbio was struggling to avoid the damage. An early knockdown had Ponzinibbio in trouble but he kept scrambling and avoiding the follow up shots, which allowed him to make it to the end of the round so he could recover.

As time passed, Ponzinibbio found his range and he began pouring on combinations of his own with Harrison fading under the pressure. Ponzinibbio was relentless once he smelled blood in the water and that’s what led to the final sequence to score the finish, much to Harris’ chagrin.

“It stopped a little early,” Harris said about the conclusion of the fight. “He caught me clean. As soon as he stopped the fight, I said ‘I’m in.’”

Regardless of the stoppage, it was a much needed win for Ponzinibbio after he suffered back-to-back losses in his past two appearances and now he can add another knockout win to his resume to start 2025.