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Santiago Ponzinibbio

Welterweight · REAL v1.0 (registered) #67; v1.1 (shadow) #61

Descriptive profile. The resume rank is what has been earned; these statistics are context, not a prediction. A test on Oct 20, 2026 found that career statistics add nothing reliable to age, layoff and experience as predictors of the next result (experiments/REGISTER.md, EXP-2026-10-20-14).

Weight band 67-70: the 10th to 90th percentile of his position across weight vectors drawn near the 70/30 weights. Rating 1,575, deviation 114: measured from 21 UFC bouts; a one-bout newcomer sits near 290.

Age 40 (born 1986-09-26) · Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) · Reach 73 in (185 cm) · Stance Orthodox · 99 days since last bout (2026-07-25) · Last five 1-4 · Streak L2

Why he is ranked here

Rating 1,575 is the division's 33rd highest of 76 board fighters; the ledger stands at -2.2 (+0.8 from quality wins, less 3.0 for other losses outside the top 5; losses count for three years); 3 quality wins in 15 years, 2 over top-10 opponents; form penalty 0.60 for a 1-4 last five. Score -0.60 = +0.06 (rating term, 70% weight) -0.06 (ledger term, 30% weight) -0.60 (form penalty); score order put him at #67.

TermValueDetail
Score-0.6070% rating term + 30% ledger term - form penalty
Rating term+0.06resume rating 1,575, scaled against the division's interdecile range
Ledger term-0.06quality ledger -2.2: +0.8 QW +0.0 proof -0.0 blowout -3.0 weak
Form penalty0.60last five 1-4
Quality wins, 15 years32 over top-10 opponents, 2 over top-15
Placementscore order #67v1.0 (registered)
Shadow board v1.1#61score -0.60; score order #61

Rules, weights and worked examples: methodology.

Last ten bouts

DateEventOpponentOpp. official rankResultMethodRoundModel p
2026-07-25UFC Fight Night: Ankalaev vs. GuskovSam PattersonunrankedLKO/TKO2 (3:06)47%
2025-05-03UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. FigueiredoDaniel RodriguezunrankedLKO/TKO3 (1:12)46%
2025-01-11UFC Fight Night: Dern vs. Ribas 2Carlston HarrisunrankedWKO/TKO3 (3:13)52%
2024-07-13UFC Fight Night: Namajunas vs. CortezMuslim SalikhovunrankedLsplit decision3 (5:00)59%
2023-04-08UFC 287: Pereira vs. Adesanya 2Kevin HollandunrankedLKO/TKO3 (3:16)53%
2022-12-10UFC 282: Blachowicz vs. AnkalaevAlex MoronounrankedWKO/TKO3 (2:29)51%
2022-05-21UFC Fight Night: Holm vs. VieiraMichel PereiraunrankedLsplit decision3 (5:00)50%
2021-12-11UFC 269: Oliveira vs. PoirierGeoff Neal#12Lsplit decision3 (5:00)43%
2021-06-05UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. SakaiMiguel BaezaunrankedWunanimous decision3 (5:00)41%
2021-01-16UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs. KattarLi JingliangunrankedLKO/TKO1 (4:25)61%

Opp. official rank = the UFC media-panel rank of the opponent on the date (C champion, #1 to #15, unranked; n/a before Feb 2013 or where no official board existed). Model p = the predictive model's pre-fight win chance for him (frozen performance-adjusted Elo; bouts before 2020 were in its tuning sample). Linked opponents have a profile.

Career statistics

Through 2026-10-31, UFC bouts only. Percentile = share of the 76 board fighters at Welterweight at or below this value; high is a position in the division, not a verdict.

Output
Significant strikes landed per minute4.67(63rd percentile at Welterweight)
Significant strike accuracy41%(11th percentile at Welterweight)
Knockdowns scored per 15 minutes0.70(79th percentile at Welterweight)
Share of wins by finish58%(50th percentile at Welterweight)
Defence and damage
Significant strikes absorbed per minute4.79(80th percentile at Welterweight)
Significant strike defence61%(92nd percentile at Welterweight)
Knockdowns suffered per 15 minutes0.58(87th percentile at Welterweight)
Significant strikes absorbed, career1,124(99th percentile at Welterweight)
KO/TKO losses5 (last 2026-07-25, 99 days ago)(99th percentile at Welterweight)
Submission losses0(66th percentile at Welterweight)
KO/TKO losses per bout over 10 years, each weighted down by the finisher's danger0.170(87th percentile at Welterweight)
Grappling
Takedowns landed per 15 minutes0.58(41st percentile at Welterweight)
Takedown defence71%(59th percentile at Welterweight)
Share of cage time in control5%(24th percentile at Welterweight)
Share of significant strikes landed in the clinch or on the ground5%(5th percentile at Welterweight)
Stylestriker (2.2 takedown attempts per 15 min; 5% control)
Career stage
Age40.1(96th percentile at Welterweight)
Age at UFC debut27.1(43rd percentile at Welterweight)
Years since UFC debut13.0(96th percentile at Welterweight)
UFC bouts21(91st percentile at Welterweight)
Cage time, minutes235(89th percentile at Welterweight)
Bouts per year, last three years1.3(43rd percentile at Welterweight)
Days since last bout99(51st percentile at Welterweight)

Board position since Oct 2023

C2040608020252026Oct 2023Oct 20262023-10-06: #47, Welterweight2023-10-13: #48, Welterweight2023-10-20: #47, Welterweight2023-11-03: #47, Welterweight2023-11-10: #47, Welterweight2023-11-17: #48, Welterweight2023-12-01: #51, Welterweight2023-12-08: #50, Welterweight2023-12-15: #50, Welterweight2024-01-12: #50, Welterweight2024-01-19: #44, Welterweight2024-02-02: #44, Welterweight2024-02-09: #43, Welterweight2024-02-16: #44, Welterweight2024-02-23: #46, Welterweight2024-03-01: #45, Welterweight2024-03-08: #45, Welterweight2024-03-15: #45, Welterweight2024-03-22: #45, Welterweight2024-03-29: #44, Welterweight2024-04-05: #44, Welterweight2024-04-12: #45, Welterweight2024-04-26: #45, Welterweight2024-05-03: #47, Welterweight2024-05-10: #47, Welterweight2024-05-17: #47, Welterweight2024-05-31: #48, Welterweight2024-06-07: #48, Welterweight2024-06-14: #48, Welterweight2024-06-21: #48, Welterweight2024-06-28: #49, Welterweight2024-07-12: #49, Welterweight2024-07-19: #75, Welterweight2024-07-26: #75, Welterweight2024-08-02: #75, Welterweight2024-08-09: #75, Welterweight2024-08-16: #76, Welterweight2024-08-23: #77, Welterweight2024-09-06: #77, Welterweight2024-09-13: #77, Welterweight2024-09-27: #77, Welterweight2024-10-04: #76, Welterweight2024-10-11: #76, Welterweight2024-10-18: #77, Welterweight2024-10-25: #77, Welterweight2024-11-01: #77, Welterweight2024-11-08: #74, Welterweight2024-11-15: #73, Welterweight2024-11-22: #73, Welterweight2024-12-06: #73, Welterweight2024-12-13: #70, Welterweight2025-01-10: #68, Welterweight2025-01-17: #30, Welterweight2025-01-31: #30, Welterweight2025-02-07: #31, Welterweight2025-02-14: #31, Welterweight2025-02-21: #31, Welterweight2025-02-28: #31, Welterweight2025-03-07: #32, Welterweight2025-03-14: #32, Welterweight2025-03-21: #32, Welterweight2025-03-28: #34, Welterweight2025-04-04: #34, Welterweight2025-04-11: #34, Welterweight2025-04-25: #31, Welterweight2025-05-02: #31, Welterweight2025-05-09: #47, Welterweight2025-05-16: #46, Welterweight2025-05-30: #37, Welterweight2025-06-06: #37, Welterweight2025-06-13: #37, Welterweight2025-06-20: #38, Welterweight2025-06-27: #40, Welterweight2025-07-11: #40, Welterweight2025-07-18: #40, Welterweight2025-07-25: #41, Welterweight2025-08-01: #39, Welterweight2025-08-08: #37, Welterweight2025-08-15: #38, Welterweight2025-08-22: #37, Welterweight2025-09-05: #38, Welterweight2025-09-12: #37, Welterweight2025-09-26: #39, Welterweight2025-10-03: #39, Welterweight2025-10-10: #40, Welterweight2025-10-17: #40, Welterweight2025-10-24: #40, Welterweight2025-10-31: #40, Welterweight2025-11-07: #39, Welterweight2025-11-14: #39, Welterweight2025-11-21: #40, Welterweight2025-12-05: #41, Welterweight2025-12-12: #41, Welterweight2026-01-23: #42, Welterweight2026-01-30: #42, Welterweight2026-02-06: #41, Welterweight2026-02-20: #42, Welterweight2026-02-27: #41, Welterweight2026-03-06: #41, Welterweight2026-03-13: #41, Welterweight2026-03-20: #41, Welterweight2026-03-27: #41, Welterweight2026-04-03: #41, Welterweight2026-04-10: #38, Welterweight2026-04-17: #38, Welterweight2026-04-24: #38, Welterweight2026-05-01: #38, Welterweight2026-05-08: #37, Welterweight2026-05-15: #38, Welterweight2026-05-29: #40, Welterweight2026-06-05: #38, Welterweight2026-06-13: #38, Welterweight2026-06-19: #39, Welterweight2026-06-26: #41, Welterweight2026-07-10: #44, Welterweight2026-07-17: #46, Welterweight2026-07-24: #46, Welterweight2026-07-31: #74, Welterweight2026-08-07: #74, Welterweight2026-08-14: #74, Welterweight2026-08-21: #73, Welterweight2026-08-28: #73, Welterweight2026-09-04: #74, Welterweight2026-09-11: #74, Welterweight2026-09-18: #73, Welterweight2026-09-25: #73, Welterweight2026-09-26: #73, Welterweight2026-10-03: #74, Welterweight2026-10-10: #73, Welterweight2026-10-17: #72, Welterweight2026-10-24: #71, Welterweight2026-10-31: #67, Welterweight#67

Position on the registered v1.0 board at each weekly snapshot (C = title holder or reserved, drawn at the top; lower is better).

Predictive rating by bout

1,4001,5001,6001,7001,80020162018202020222024Nov 2013Oct 20262013-11-09: 1,442 (L vs Ryan LaFlare)2014-09-13: 1,544 (W vs Wendell Oliveira Marques)2015-02-22: 1,580 (W vs Sean Strickland)2015-06-27: 1,493 (L vs Lorenz Larkin)2015-12-10: 1,584 (W vs Andreas Stahl)2016-04-16: 1,621 (W vs Court McGee)2016-08-06: 1,653 (W vs Zak Cummings)2017-02-19: 1,674 (W vs Nordine Taleb)2017-07-16: 1,727 (W vs Gunnar Nelson)2017-12-16: 1,758 (W vs Mike Perry)2018-11-17: 1,771 (W vs Neil Magny)2021-01-16: 1,632 (L vs Li Jingliang)2021-06-05: 1,666 (W vs Miguel Baeza)2021-12-11: 1,673 (L vs Geoff Neal)2022-05-21: 1,666 (L vs Michel Pereira)2022-12-10: 1,700 (W vs Alex Morono)2023-04-08: 1,662 (L vs Kevin Holland)2024-07-13: 1,638 (L vs Muslim Salikhov)2025-01-11: 1,646 (W vs Carlston Harris)2025-05-03: 1,620 (L vs Daniel Rodriguez)2026-07-25: 1,555 (L vs Sam Patterson)1,555

Rating after each UFC bout from the frozen predictive model (performance-adjusted Elo, data/processed/elo_history.csv; a debut starts at 1,500). The resume rating's history is not stored, so this is the predictive line, which is a different number from the resume rating in the header.

Trajectory

Recent performances run about 142 points behind the rating: fighters this age typically run 103 points behind their rating, and his own recent results put him a further 39 points behind.

ComponentPointsMeaning
Age component-103what fighters aged 40.1 typically run relative to their rating (population curve, all UFC bouts since 2011)
Own recent results-39his recency-weighted mean and trend over 21 bouts, shrunk toward zero; trend -9 points a year
Combined-142the rating's likely distance from his current performance level, in rating points
Readingbehind ratingahead of, in line with (within 30 points), or behind the rating

Performance relative to the rating, by age

-1.0-0.5+0.0+0.5+1.026283032343638402013-11-09 (age 27.1): L vs Ryan LaFlare, residual -0.422014-09-13 (age 28.0): W vs Wendell Oliveira Marques, residual +0.522015-02-22 (age 28.4): W vs Sean Strickland, residual +0.312015-06-27 (age 28.8): L vs Lorenz Larkin, residual -0.602015-12-10 (age 29.2): W vs Andreas Stahl, residual +0.492016-04-16 (age 29.6): W vs Court McGee, residual +0.652016-08-06 (age 29.9): W vs Zak Cummings, residual +0.212017-02-19 (age 30.4): W vs Nordine Taleb, residual +0.182017-07-16 (age 30.8): W vs Gunnar Nelson, residual +0.672017-12-16 (age 31.2): W vs Mike Perry, residual +0.222018-11-17 (age 32.1): W vs Neil Magny, residual +0.622021-01-16 (age 34.3): L vs Li Jingliang, residual -0.562021-06-05 (age 34.7): W vs Miguel Baeza, residual +0.122021-12-11 (age 35.2): L vs Geoff Neal, residual +0.012022-05-21 (age 35.6): L vs Michel Pereira, residual -0.192022-12-10 (age 36.2): W vs Alex Morono, residual +0.542023-04-08 (age 36.5): L vs Kevin Holland, residual -0.562024-07-13 (age 37.8): L vs Muslim Salikhov, residual -0.132025-01-11 (age 38.3): W vs Carlston Harris, residual +0.442025-05-03 (age 38.6): L vs Daniel Rodriguez, residual -0.552026-07-25 (age 39.8): L vs Sam Patterson, residual -0.54-0.20

Each dot is one decided UFC bout at his age then: the performance score minus the rating's expectation, on the score's own scale from -1 to +1 (filled = win, hollow = loss; above zero is better than the rating implied; a finish as a slight favourite is about +0.45). The dashed line is the population curve for all fighters; the solid line is this fighter's own fitted level and trend as of the data date, weighted toward recent bouts. One unit sustained over many bouts corresponds to about 695 rating points; a single bout's residual is noisy.

Held-out evidence (walk-forward 2016 to 2026, EXP-2026-10-21-01): the age curve held in every test year; the individual component is a weak signal (correlation 0.06 with the next bout's residual; among fighters aged 33 or over, the lowest predicted quartile won 38% of next bouts against 53% expected, the highest 48% against 52%) and adds nothing to bout prediction beyond the shadow model. No board uses any of it: the rankings answer who has earned the place, not who wins next (EXP-2026-10-20-09). Method: src/mmalab/decline.py; settings: config/decline.yaml (expectation from the resume rating; one unit of residual is about 695 rating points).

Context flags

Descriptive only. Each line is a population fact about fighters like him, not a forecast for him; the register entries hold the measurements.

REAL v1.0 (registered method) · build c166ee8 · data through 2026-10-31 · page built 2026-11-06 · changelog. Independent fan research project built on public UFCStats data. Not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by UFC, Zuffa, LLC, TKO Group Holdings, or any athlete. All trademarks belong to their owners and are used only to identify athletes and events.