Santiago Ponzinibbio targeted to face Michel Pereira at May UFC Fight Night event

An exciting welterweight matchup between Santiago Ponzinibbio and Michel Pereira is heading to a UFC Fight Night event in May.

Verbal agreements are in place for Ponzinibbio (28-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) to compete in his first fight of 2022 against Pereira (27-11 MMA, 5-2 UFC) on May 21. MMA Junkie confirmed the news of the matchup following an initial report from The Underground. The event does not have an officially announced location or venue.

Ponzinibbio, 35, has traded wins and losses over his four previous fights, as he looks to rebound from a split decision loss to Geoff Neal at UFC 269 in December. Prior to an up and down 2021 campaign that also saw him win against Miguel Baeza after a loss to Li Jingliang, Ponzinibbio won seven straight against tough welterweight competition.

Pereira, 28, will look to keep his win streak going as he will enter with four-straight victories. He kicked off 2022 with a unanimous decision win over Andre Fialho, which followed wins over Niko Price, Khaos Williams, and Zelim IMadaev.

With the addition, the May 21 lineup includes:

• Holly Holm vs. Ketlen Vieira
• Michel Pereira vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
• Jailton Almeida vs. Maxim Grishin
• Felipe Colares vs. Chase Hooper
• Alexander Gustafsson vs. Ben Rothwell
• Uros Medic vs. Omar Morales
• Alen Amedovski vs. Joseph Holmes
• Tabatha Ricci vs. Polyana Viana
• Chidi Njokuani vs. Dusko Todorovic