Vicente Luque Wants Darren Till Or Ponzinibbio For UFC Uruguay Headliner

Vicente Luque feels he is deserving of a welterweight showdown with either Darren Till or Santiago Ponzinibbio.

The Brazilian made it five wins in a row with his knockout win over short-notice opponent Derrick Krantz at UFC Rochester this past weekend. It also marked his ninth win in his last 10 UFC fights with all them being finishes.

“The Silent Assassin” recently cracked the top 15 of the rankings and was initially supposed to face No. 13-ranked Neil Magny. That was until the latter had to pull out on the week of the fight.

And having mentioned the possibility of fighting at UFC Uruguay in his post-fight interview, Luque spoke of wanting to headline the card with a top 10 opponent during a post-fight media scrum.

“I want a top ten (opponent), and I want the Uruguay main event,” Luque said (via Bloody Elbow). “I think I have the big support from the Latin Americans, I’m a Spanish speaker, I have heritage, my dad is from Chile. So I definitely want to fight in that Uruguay card and I think main event makes sense.

“Maybe Darren Till, I think that would be great. I think also (Santiago) Ponzinibbio is another option, he’s a Latin guy. So it would be two good fights, I think, and Uruguay is the place.”

Till Still Has Stock

Till may have lost his last two fights to Tyron Woodley and Jorge Masvidal, but he’s still a big name in the division.

Add in the fact that he’s an entertaining striker as well as No. 6 in the rankings, it’s no surprise that Luque wants a fight with the Liverpool native.

“He’s a big name, he’s up there, and he’s a striker,” Luque added. “I always like to fight strikers because I’m a striker myself.

“So I think, especially for the crowd, it’s going to be a great fight, and I’m always excited to fight good strikers.”

Ponzinibbio is not a bad option either. The Argentinian is ranked No. 9 and has won his last seven fights in a row.

The UFC will visit Uruguay for the first time in promotion history on August 10. The event is UFC on ESPN+ 14 and will take place at the Antel Arena in Montevideo.

Having Luque as the headliner certainly makes sense, and a fight with either Till or Ponzinibbio would more than likely be an entertaining affair.