UFC Fight Night 80 results: Santiago Ponzinibbio lights up Andreas Stahl in first

LAS VEGAS – Santiago Ponzinibibbio hurt Andreas Stahl early and then kept the pressure on until a big right hand turned off the lights.

After that decisive blow from Ponzinibbio (21-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC), an already bloodied Stahl (9-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) collapsed to the floor, prompting referee Herb Dean to wave it off at the 4:25 mark of Round 1.

The welterweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 80 event at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Ponzinibbio didn’t need long to land his first damaging blow on the hard-charging Stahl. An early right hand bloodied Stahl’s nose and put him on the defensive, leaving him with his back stuck to the fence and his arms up high in a defensive shell that allowed Ponzinibbio to tee off at will.

A timely takedown by Stahl helped him hit the pause button on Ponzinibbio’s attack, but he couldn’t take advantage of the top position, and soon Ponzinibbio was back on his feet, throwing hard.

With Stahl again backed up to the fence, Ponzinibbio let fly with a sharp right hand that caught Stahl squarely on the jaw, dropping him to the floor. Ponzinibbio followed up with another punch as Stahl hit the mat, but by then Dean was already on his way in to stop the bout, awarding Ponzinibbio the TKO victory.

The victory gets Ponzinibbio back in the win column after a loss against Lorenz Larkin in June. Stahl has now lost two straight.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 80 results include:

• Santiago Ponzinibbio def. Andreas Stahl via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:25
• Danny Roberts def. Nathan Coy via technical submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 2:46
• Zubaira Tukhugov def. Phillipe Nover via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
• Kailin Curran def. Emily Kagan via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:13

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 80, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan and Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on site in Las Vegas.)