UFC: ‘The Leech’ Li Jingliang faces crunch time against ‘dangerous’ Santiago Ponzinibbio
- Veteran Chinese welterweight looks to get back to winning ways, and back on course for a ranking
- ‘He should be top 15, a very dangerous guy,’ says Li – ‘I realise how important this fight is for me’
Li Jingliang arrived in Las Vegas at the start of December primed and ready for a bout he hoped would re-establish his welterweight credentials. The Chinese fighter ended up getting far more than he bargained for as fate – and Covid-19 – intervened.
The 32-year-old Li (17-6) has been forced to wait an extra month for his return to the Octagon after American Dwight Grant (10-3) fell ill with the coronavirus before their scheduled bout on the UFC 256 card on December 16.
Now “The Leech” is set to return to action on the main card of this weekend’s UFC Fight Island 7 in Abu Dhabi, and instead of getting a fight he was favoured to win, he’s being thrown into the fray against a fellow veteran in Argentine Santiago Ponzinibbio (27-3), a man with similar designs on a top-15 ranking.
Both fighters know exactly what is on the line.
“He should be top 15, a very dangerous guy,” Li told SCMP MMA from Las Vegas. “He’s rested for two years but he won seven in a row before that, so he is obviously good. For both of us there is the thought of the top 15 so I realise how important this fight is for me.”