Menifield prevails on ‘Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series’
Alonzo Menifield walked into the octagon Tuesday evening in Las Vegas as an undefeated fighter looking to pull off an impressive victory to earn an Ultimate Fighting Championship contract.
The former Glendale Community College football player emerged from the cage still undefeated, but his time in the UFC will have to wait — at least for now.
On the third installment of “Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series” inside The Ultimate Fighter Gym in Las Vegas, Menifield collected a technical knockout stoppage of Daniel Jolly to improve to 4-0.
Menifield’s win came officially at 5:00 of the second round as Jolly (5-3) was unable to answer the bell after stating he could no longer see and bringing about the stoppage from referee Chris Tognoni.
“We exchanged, both right hands. Somewhere he got poked in the eye or something, or maybe, something happened to his eye, I don’t know,” Menifield said in a postfight interview with Laura Sanko. “He landed a good right and I wanted to go through a second round so I could get him back, but unfortunately I can’t.”
At the conclusion of each week’s five-fight show – which runs for eight consecutive weeks – White, the UFC president, awards contracts to winners of his choosing. Karl Roberson and Geoff Neal, who each won via first-round knockouts, garnered contracts.
When asked by Sanko if he would like to return for another shot on the contender series, Menifield welcomed it.
“That would be fabulous,” said the 29-year-old Menifield, who’s won all four of his fights via knockout. “Second time … hopefully that will happen.”
Interestingly enough, Jolly, 32, was a former college running back, while Menifield was an All-American linebacker at Glendale who went on to play in the Arena Football League. Jolly, meanwhile, had far more experience as a two-fight UFC veteran, though he had lost two straight.
Menifield got off first, walking down Jolly and landing some good right crosses. Jolly worked for a clinch under a right hand from Menifield, but Menifield was able to push Jolly to the cage. Menifield worked an underhook and had control against the cage before the fighters separated. Menifield landed a good left inside leg kick and then threw a flurry that Jolly used to force a clinch against the cage, but Menifield once again worked to controlling the position but then sustained a knee to the groin, which brought upon a momentary stoppage. Menfield kept pumping one-two combinations, but Jolly was able to secure a takedown against the cage. Menifield quickly worked the fight back to standing, but had his back against the cage and gave up a trip takedown. Jolly worked to half-guard, but Menifield worked to full-guard. Jolly began landing some left hands, most of them to the body. For the most part, Menifield locked up Jolly and eventually it brought about a referee stand-up. The two exchanged big punches with Jolly landing a big overhand and then grabbing a clinch again and once again Menifield switched and pressed Jolly against the cage. During the sequence against the cage, Jolly complained to the referee that his eye had been poked. Menifield maintained control against the cage to close out a very close first round that the News-Press scored 10-9 for Menifield.
In between rounds, Jolly did not return, stating that he could not see.
Tognoni waived off the fight, which clearly upset Menifield.
“Are you f------ serious?” Menifield said.
“You get the win,” Tognoni said.
“I don’t want to win like that,” Menifield said.
But he did get the win, as the official saw no eye poke, so therefore the fight was ruled a stoppage victory for Menifield.
Twitter: @TCNGrantGordon
