Vicente Luque Will Step In The Octagon Against Santiago Ponzinibbio At UFC RIO

UFC Rio just added a new fight. 

The upcoming fight night show has confirmed a new welterweight bout for the upcoming show as Vicente Luque will take on Santiago Ponzinibbio. 

🚨 Dos de tus favoritos frente a frente en #UFCRio

Estos no se contienen y todos lo sabemos, Vicente Luque 🇧🇷🇨🇱 enfrenta a Santiago Ponzinibbio 🇦🇷 el 11 de Octubre. pic.twitter.com/S545wbc06B

— UFC Español (@UFCEspanol) August 11, 2025

Coming in, Luque is in need of a win. The welterweight is fresh off his submission loss to Kevin Holland at UFC 316. In 2017, the 33-year-old was on an impressive six fight winning streak as he beat top welterweights such as Niko Price and Mike Perry. Stephan Thompson shattered that winning streak, but Luque came back quickly with a four fight winning streak and got a big victory over former UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley at UFC 260.

But former UFC Welterweight Champion Belal Muhammad broke that streak and Vicente’s record has been mixed ever since. He’s won two fights out of his last six. Vicente’s professional record currently stands at 23 wins, 11 losses, and 1 draw. 

Santiago Ponzinibbio is also in need of a win. The welterweight does own a victory over Carlston Harris back in January, but he suffered a loss to Daniel Rodriguez in May. Santiago hasn’t been able to get a consistent streak going since 2015, where the 38-year-old had a strong seven fight winning streak that saw him drop big names such as Mike Perry, Neil Magny, and Gunnar Nelson. But his loss to Geoff Neal saw him take a string of losses that resulted in Santiago only having two wins in his last six fights. Santiago’s professional record currently stands at 30 wins and 9 losses. 

Charles Oliveira vs. Rafael Fiziev is your #UFCRio main event!

FULL STORY: https://t.co/AOcZngUhVS pic.twitter.com/XneuDl0ZGT

— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) August 7, 2025

The upcoming UFC Rio show continues to grow into a stacked card that set to be headlined with former UFC Lightweight Champion Charles Oliveira quickly stepping back into the octagon against Rafael Fiziev. It should be quite the interesting fight since Charles is fresh off his loss to Ilia Topuria at UFC 317.

With the new addition, the UFC Rio lineup now includes:

• Charles Oliveira vs. Rafael Fiziev
• Thomas Petersen vs. Vitor Petrino
• Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Julia Polastri
• Stewart Nicoll vs. Lucas Rocha
• Jhonata Diniz vs. Mario Pinto
• Irina Alekseeva vs. Bia Mesquita
• Vicente Luque vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio