Alonzo Menifield flipped the script at UFC Macau, scoring a knockout win over Zhang Mingyang in front of the Chinese fighter’s home fans at Galaxy Macau.
Menifield entered the light heavyweight bout as one of the bigger underdogs on the card but left with a statement finish that pushed him to a 3-1 run over his last four outings.
After the fight, Menifield made it clear he’s aiming high at 205 pounds. "Top 10," he said, before adding, "I'm grinding. I've been in Colorado grinding. Anybody they put in front of me, I'm taking them out."
He also described the approach that led to the knockout. "I was trying to draw him out because I knew he was trying to draw me out," Menifield said. "You can't run in on this guy because he will knock you down. He'll sleep you. We played the game, and eventually, when I buzzed him a little, I went. I smelled blood, and I took it."
The win comes after a difficult 2024 in which Menifield suffered back-to-back knockout losses to Azamat Murzakanov and Carlos Ulberg. Now training in Colorado, he said, "I'm definitely hitting a new gear and understanding who I am as a fighter and who I want to be," and summed up his mindset simply: "I want to be an MMA fighter, but overall, I want to entertain. I want to knock him out, and I want to get him out of there. That's my motto."
