UFC Abu Dhabi added yet another fight to its card on Wednesday, with a report that Alonzo Menifield vs. Azamat Murzakanov had been booked. The light heavyweights will fight at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on August 3, 2024.
News of the matchup was broken by Vestnik MMA (via @VestnikMMA on Twitter/X).
Alonzo Menifield (15-4-1) will be returning to the octagon just shy of three months after his 12-second defeat, at the hands of Carlos Ulberg earlier this month at UFC St. Louis. Menifield is now 8-4-1 with the UFC since entering the promotion via a second chance on the 2018 season of the Contender Series.
The speedy TKO halted Menifield’s five fight unbeaten streak, launched in 2022 with two first round stoppage victories over Misha Cirkunov and Askar Mozharov. The streak also included a second-round submission victory of Jimmy Crute, and his most recent victory, a unanimous decision win over Dustin Jacoby last December.
Azamat Murzakanov (13-0) who is also a Contender Series product, has been flawless in his UFC career thus far. Azamat has finished two of his three UFC opponents, Tafon Nchukwi and Devin Clark, both in the third round. ‘The Professional’ captured his most recent victory in April of 2023 when he defeated Dustin Jacoby via unanimous decision.
Azamat, unfortunately, hasn’t been nearly as flawless outside of the cage. The Russian was handed a two-year suspension by USADA in 2019. And Azamat has had a total of five fights cancelled with the promotion including bookings with Volkan Oezdemir and Khalil Rountree Jr. late last year.
UFC Abu Dhabi is already shaping up to be a star-studded card. Currently there are six fights reported, including multiple fan favorite fighters:
- Cory Sandhagen vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
- Marlon Vera vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
- Vicente Luque vs. Nick Diaz
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Lupita Godinez
- Tony Fergueson vs. Michael Chiesa
- Alonzo Menifield vs. Azamat Murzakanov
