LAS VEGAS – UFC light heavyweight Alonzo Menifield nearly let his emotions get the better of him on Saturday.
Opening up the main card of UFC Fight Night 207, Menifield (12-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) stepped into the octagon to face Askar Mozharov, on a mission to not only get back in the win column, but unleash frustrations that began building when his opponent’s integrity came into question during fight week.
Mozharov (19-13 MMA, 0-1 UFC) made headlines ahead of Saturday’s bout when his professional fight record was adjusted on MMA databases. That, along with Mozharov’s actions during the fight gave Menifield the fuel he needed to pick up a first-round TKO stoppage.
“In all honesty, when I was fighting this guy, in the fight he started talking,” Menifield told reporters during the post-fight news conference. “‘I don’t feel that. That’s soft. What is this.’ And then he started talking to me in a way where he was disrespectful and then the gangster came out. …
“Right then and there I was like, ‘OK Alonzo, he’s trying to throw you off this grappling thing.’ So I was like, you know what, I’m gonna grapple, I’m gonna wrestle him more. And yeah, that’s kinda why I was all, you know, crazy.”
Menifield stuck to the gameplan formulated at Fortis MMA, which was to use his striking to set up the grappling game. Mozharov was able to get to his feet after being taken down once and tried to entice Menifield to strike with him. Rather than do that, Menifield shot right back in for a beautiful takedown and ended the fight with elbows from crucifix just seconds later.
Even though the “gangster” came out of Menifield, he was able to keep his anger in check and focus on accomplishing the ultimate goal of picking up his fifth win in the UFC.
“With him talking, and him thinking the way I know he was thinking, and the record, it was just – I was angry,” Menifield said. “I wanted to have another fight with him. As I was walking, I wanted to keep fighting him, you know? Of course, get those two paychecks and then I was like, yeah, I’ll meet you in the parking lot. That’s how mad I was. I was like, ‘Holy crap.’ But it came down, so I’m good.”
UFC’s Alonzo Menifield was ‘pissed off’ at Askar Mozharov, wanted to keep fighting in parking lot