He was born in Argentina to parents of Italian heritage, with paternal grandparents from Sicily. Ponzinibbio began training kickboxing when he was 13 years old growing up in Argentina. Ponzinibbio became interested in MMA, but his native country wasn't able to provide gyms to train it. Due to that, Ponzinibbio traveled to Florianopolis, Brazil, where he lived the first five months in a tent on a beach, doing some odd jobs to try make the ends meet. Meanwhile, he trained at several nearby gyms. He turned professional in 2008 competing in regional promotions in South America. He currently resides in South Florida with his girlfriend, Jackie.
In March 2013, it was revealed that Ponzinibbio was a cast member of. He won his elimination fight to get into the TUF house, defeating Thiago Silva by TKO in round 1. He was chosen to be a member of Team Nogueira. Over the course of the show, Ponzinibbio defeated Marcio Santos by TKO and Cleiton Duarte by unanimous decision to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, he defeated Leonardo Santos by unanimous decision. However, Ponzinibbio broke his hand during this semifinal fight and was replaced by Santos in the finals against William Macário. The semifinal-round fight with Santos, however, was picked as the Fight of the Season, and his finish of Marcio Santos earned Knockout of the Season which earned Ponzinibbio $50,000 bonuses.
Ultimate Fighting Championship
Ponzinibbio faced Ryan LaFlare on November 9, 2013 at UFC Fight Night 32. LaFlare won the fight via unanimous decision. Ponzinibbio was briefly linked to a bout with Jordan Mein on April 19, 2014 at UFC on Fox 11. However, Ponzinibbio was scratched from the bout and replaced by Hernani Perpetuo. Ponzinibbio was expected to face Ildemar Alcântara on July 5, 2014 at UFC 175. However, Ponzinibbio was forced out of the bout with a knee injury. He was replaced by Kenny Robertson. Ponzinibbio was expected to face Sérgio Moraes on September 13, 2014 at UFC Fight Night 51. However, Moraes pulled out of the bout citing a lingering knee injury and was replaced by Wendell Oliveira. Ponzinibbio defeated Oliveira by TKO in the first round. Ponzinibbio faced Sean Strickland on February 22, 2015 at UFC Fight Night 61. Ponzinibbio won the back and forth fight via unanimous decision. Ponzinibbio next faced Lorenz Larkin on June 27, 2015 at UFC Fight Night 70. He lost the fight via TKO in the second round and earned a Fight of the Night bonus. Ponzinibbio faced Andreas Ståhl on December 10, 2015 at UFC Fight Night 80. He won the bout via TKO in the first round. Ponzinibbio faced Court McGee on April 16, 2016 at UFC on Fox 19. He won the bout via TKO in the first round. Ponzinibbio next faced Zak Cummings on August 6, 2016 at UFC Fight Night 92. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Ponzinibbio faced Nordine Taleb on February 19, 2017 at UFC Fight Night 105. He won the fight by unanimous decision. Ponzinibbio faced Gunnar Nelson on July 16, 2017 at UFC Fight Night 113. He won the fight by knockout in the first round, becoming the first man to finish Nelson by knockout in MMA competition. The win also earned him his first Performance of the Night bonus award. At the post fight press conference, Nelson claimed that Ponzinibbio poked him in the eye during an earlier exchange and caused him to see double, stating “I really should have said something because I was seeing double for the rest of the fight. He caught me with a shot that I didn’t really see.” Ponzinibbio dismissed Nelson's claim and stated "I went there to knock him out and thank God it went as expected, I won by knockout. If happened, of course it wasn’t intentional, but I watched the video again and didn’t see it." Ponzinibbio faced Mike Perry on December 16, 2017 at. He won the fight by unanimous decision. Ponzinibbio was expected to face Kamaru Usman on May 19, 2018 at UFC Fight Night 129. However, on April 21, 2018 Ponzinibbio announced he was injured and pulled from the card. Ponzinibbio faced Neil Magny on November 17, 2018 at UFC Fight Night 140. He won the fight via knockout. This win earned him the Performance of the Night award. Ponzinibbio was expected to face Robbie Lawler on December 14, 2019 at UFC 245. However, on October 12, 2019, it was revealed that Ponzinibbio had pulled out of the fight due to a staph infection.
