Alonzo Menifield learned just last Thursday that he’d be fighting in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 7. Against veteran light heavyweight Ovince Saint Preux, no less. A tall order, but not one Menifield (9-1) had to think twice about.
“I’ve been training already since my last fight, for some time now. To get the call on Thursday, it was a no-brainer for me,” he said during this week’s virtual media day.
Menifield accepted the fight the same day. And he was in good spirits during Fight Week, having made some adjustments following his first pro loss, to Devin Clark back in June.
“I came in a lot lighter. Worked on the cardio. This weight cut will be super easy. I won’t feel like I felt last fight,” he promised. That prediction came to pass Friday, with Menifield hitting the scales at 204.5lbs, well under the light heavyweight limit.
The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t made things easy. “For us climbing up on the ladder in the UFC, it’s pretty challenging,” he admitted. But, he added, he has the right people around him. “We have a circle of good people training round the clock, Mondays through Saturdays, at our team. It’s solid.”
His opponent this Saturday is no doubt Menifield’s toughest yet. “OSP” fought Jon Jones for interim gold in a very competitive fight back in 2016. He competed in Strikeforce. Menifield sees that main danger in Saint Preux being a veteran. “He’s got a lot of experience,” Menifileld allowed. “Aside from that, it’ll be bombs away from me.”
But there’s always that submission threat. Saint Preux has become synonymous with the Von Flue choke. “I’m definitely anti-Von Flue,” Menifield stated, adding that he feels his cardio will be a big factor in helping him avoid OSP’s patented submission. “I don’t plan on going in that position. Sticking and moving, that’s pretty much what I’m going to do.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 7 virtual media day press scrum with Alonzo Menifield above. The event takes place Saturday, August 22 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
