Seattle, WA — Alonzo Menifield was supposed to be fighting in London next month. When his opponent dropped out, however, he jumped at the chance to return to action a little bit sooner.
“This opportunity came out of nowhere and I was like ‘yeah, I’ll do it,'” Menifield (15-5-1) said of how his fight at UFC Seattle his Saturday came to be. He’ll fight newcomer Julius Walker at the Climate Pledge Arena, as the UFC returns to the Washington state city for the first time in well over a decade.
Menifield feels as if Oumar Sy, his London opponent, and Julius Walker share some similarities. “I feel like he’s similar to the opponent I was going to fight in London,” Menifield said of the opponent swap, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press on Wednesday ahead of UFC Seattle. “I feel like he’s similar to him in a way. Just maybe he’s a little bit flashier. We’ll see.”
As far as fending off a debuting fighter who might want to make a name off the #15-ranked light heavyweight, “I think this is an exciting fight as far as this opportunity for both of us. For him especially, he’s a young guy coming to make a statement, and I look forward to just shutting that all down.”
Alonzo Menifield also revealed that he had returned to Fortis MMA, his former (and now current) gym, ahead of Saturday’s card. Fortis is located in Dallas, Texas where Menifield resides, making it a homecoming in more ways than one.
“I’ve been at Fortis. I travelled around, I went everywhere,” explained Menifield, who had a realization while training at a larger gym that things weren’t much different than his old camp. “I realized that man, they do this at Fortis. They grind hard like this. So I was like, why won’t I just go home and be with my family, and train. So I’m back at Fortis, appreciate Fortis.”
Luckily there were no barriers to reentry, as Menifield had left on good terms with Fortis head coach Sayif Saud.
“Me and Sayif, we’ve always been good. I never left on bad terms, I just told him I needed to expand. And that’s what I did, just traveling around, realizing what I can add to me. It wasn’t anything like, sour, so I was able to go back home.”
That said, he’s still also pals with former UFC heavyweight Pat Barry, who trains Rose Namajunas and who Menifield has also worked with. While Barry won’t be able to be in his corner this Saturday, “I love Pat, and I work with him,” Menifield stated. “He trains Rose, and we had a conflict in schedules. But me and Pat, that’s my road dog.”
Watch the full UFC Seattle media day appearance by Alonzo Menifield above.
