Athletes
Fight Alonzo Menifield And Find Out
Light Heavyweight Draws Jimmy Crute For His First International Bout At UFC 284
Alonzo Menifield is a man of few words.
It’s a combat sports cliché to say, “he lets his fists do the talking,” but sayings like those were created for guys like Menifield.
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Despite an imposing frame and some of the most dangerous Octagon power in the 205-pound ranks, the big man is soft spoken, laughs easily, and doesn’t seem to enjoy explaining why he thinks he’s the best or pontificating about why his last camp will make him unstoppable in his upcoming bout Saturday night at UFC 284. He would truly rather you just watch and draw your own conclusions.
Alonzo Menifield Von Flue Chokes Cherant | UFC 260: Miocic vs Ngannou
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Alonzo Menifield Von Flue Chokes Cherant | UFC 260: Miocic vs Ngannou
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For his first fight outside the United States, he’s traveled to the most remote city you can locate on a map, Perth, to take on a native Australian in Jimmy Crute. The fans down under are amongst the loudest in the world, even when it’s not one of their own in the cage. But with Crute standing across from him? It will be pure thunder. For his part, Menifield will just be happy to hear…anything. Six of his last seven bouts have been at the UFC APEX, most of them with little to no fans in attendance.
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"Just having crowd energy is always the best. APEX…there's echoes and you can hear your coaches scream crap. But having fans there? That'll be awesome."
He knows they’ll be loud. He knows they’ll be rowdy. He knows they won’t be rooting for him. He jokes that he’ll tell himself that maybe they’re cheering for headliner Alexander Volkanovski.
“Silencing them would be fun,” he admits.
Fun…and possible. Menifield’s last two bouts versus Askar Mozharov and Misha Cirkunov both ended via first-round KO. Dating back to his days in Bellator and LFA, Menifield was no stranger to such outcomes. But then he hit a bumpy stretch in the UFC. After winning his first two with the promotion, he dropped three of his next five and decided he needed to make some changes. After training for years near home in Texas, Meinfield has spent his last three camps alongside Pat Barry in Colorado. So what does he see as the biggest difference?
“It’s very dry,” he jokes. “Texas is hot and moist.”
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It’s difficult to leave his young children behind when he heads north.
“It’s definitely a challenge in Colorado, being away from Texas. It is what it is.”
But he’s not arguing with the results, and he knows it was the right move.
“It benefitted me in all kinds of ways. Endurance, cardio and most important: striking. We do the wrestling and the grappling, but we take it to a nullifier level. I probably won’t go into detail. It’s for jiu-jitsu: I nullify that,” he laughs. “But yeah. Fun.”
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And after traveling through the air for a day and a half to get here, he’ll look to have some of that fun with a game opponent in Jimmy Crute.
“Yeah, he's a good fighter. He's going to bring it, given his last fight. So I'm ready for a fight.”
Crute’s last fight ended in a mere 48 seconds via a KO from the current champion, Jamahal Hill. His previous bout also ended in the first round when Anthony Smith delivered a leg kick that resulted in a foot drop, leaving the doctors no choice but to call a stoppage TKO. The losses were the first back-to-back in the Aussie’s career, a career colored by eight first-round finishes of his own. Menifield knows his opponent will be hungry to return to his winning ways, but not as hungry as “Atomic” is to leave Australia not only with a win, but with a Performance of the Night, too.
“With me doing what I do, and then Jimmy Crute finding out? Yeah, that’s about it,” he says, as if an extra $50,000 is already a given.
“Line ‘em up. I’ll knock ‘em down. That’s it.”
UFC 284: Makhachev vs Volkanovski took place live from RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia on February 11, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive all the action on UFC Fight Pass!
