Alonzo Menifield spoiled the homecoming party of Zhang Mingyang, and few saw it coming.
Menifield (17-7-1 MMA, 11-6-1 UFC), who was one of the bigger underdogs at Saturday’s UFC Macau, put away Mingyang (19-8 MMA, 3-2 UFC) in his home country of China, silencing Galaxy Macau.
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It was a solid KO win that not only surprised many, but also put Menifield at a 3-1 run in his last four outings. With a decent record in hand, Menifield would like to test himself against the top contenders at 205 pounds.
“Top 10,” Menifield said to UFC.com after his win. “I’m grinding. I’ve been in Colorado grinding. Anybody they put in front of me, I’m taking them out.”
Not long ago, Menifield had gone through a rough patch in his career, suffering back-to-back KO losses to Azamat Murzakanov and Carlos Ulberg in 2024. He feels he’s learned a lot from those defeats.
“I’m definitely hitting a new gear and understanding who I am as a fighter and who I want to be,” Menifield said. “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.”
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Menifield wants to put on exciting fights, like he usually does, but he wants to do so with a smarter approach.
“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.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Alonzo Menifield calls for top-10 bout after upset KO win at UFC Macau
