Santiago Ponzinibbio Presented with Key to City of La Plata Following UFC Argentina Victory

Santiago Ponzinibbio’s knockout victory at UFC Fight Night 140 in Buenos Aires, Argentina proved to be more valuable than anyone could have imagined.

On Thursday, Ponzinibbio posted on social media that he had received the key to the city of La Plata, capital city of the Argentinian province Buenos Aires, from Mayor Julio Garro.

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Hoy fui declarado ciudadano ilustre de mi hermosa ciudad natal y me entregaron la llave de la cuidad, que lindo es volver a casa! // Today I was declared an illustrious citizen of my beautiful hometown and they gave me the key to the city, how nice it is to go home! //Hoje eu fui declarado cidadão ilustre da minha linda cidade natal e eles me deram a chave da cidade, como eh bom estar em casa! #teamponzinibbio #argentinogentebuena #laplata #buenosaires #ufcargentina #latinoamericana #mma #ufc #proximocampeon #nextchamp #ciudadanoilustre

A post shared by Santiago Ponzinibbio (@sponzinibbiomma) on Nov 22, 2018 at 1:31pm PST

According to MMAFighting, the key to the city had only been given to four other recipients prior to Ponzinibbio, all musicians: The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Ed Sheeran and Alejandro Lerner. In addition, he was bestowed the honor of “Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires.” Given only to Argentine natives or longtime residents, that honor is bestowed by the legislature for exemplary work in the fields of culture, science, politics or sports. “Gente Boa” prevailed at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s debut event in Argentina, knocking out Neil Magny in the fourth round of the main event. Having not suffered defeat since a “Fight of the Night” - winning loss to Lorenz Larkin in 2015, with that win Ponzinibbio boosted his win streak to seven straight, among the longest in the division.