Alonzo Theodoro Menifield, born on October 18, 1987, is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the Light Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since 2015, he has formerly fought in Bellator and the Legacy Fighting Alliance.
Menifield's journey to the UFC is a testament to his resilience and determination, overcoming a challenging childhood to achieve success in the world of mixed martial arts. He is something of an MMA unicorn these days. A young and promising light heavyweight with athletic pedigree and an undefeated record to boot? That’s enough to turn heads in an era where the 205-pound pool is hitting the shallows and prospects can cross into world-title contention in mere months.
Early Life and Overcoming Adversity
Menifield was born in Los Angeles, California. Menifield was just 11 years old when he and his older brother, Cecil, were taken from their mother by the state of California. After his father died, his mother raised him and his brother until the age of 14 when the boys were put in foster care. The boys’ biological father had passed away and their mom, an immigrant from Belize, was lost, drowning under a deluge of street drugs. Menifield bounced around between 12 different foster homes. It was a lonely and confusing time, and the separation from any sense of familial love or support furthered an anger inside of Menifield that he could never quite explain.
“It was bad,” Menifield says. “You can imagine, me being a kid and being raised by my mom, and then (being) taken, there was a lot of hostility there. I was fighting in school. I was fighting everywhere. I was in a probation school at one point. I was in juvenile hall for fighting. I got to a point where kids started pressing charges on me, because I was in the system, the group homes, and they would press charges and I remember going to juvenile hall for that. And I realized they can take my freedom away.”
As more and more foster homes deserted him, as more and more budding fathers and mothers turned their backs to him, Menifield’s anger and self-sabotage only grew.
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“I would get into fights with the kids there or I would get in fights with the people who owned the place, with staff,” Menifield says. “I think that was mainly it, just because I wasn’t easy to handle, and I was difficult. I didn’t accept it and I was just taking it out on everybody.
“It just felt awful. At one point, I remember just begging Jesus to help me. I know it’s kind of cheesy because part of today’s society is we don’t really go by that, but that’s the truth. I just kept thinking about that. And I wasn’t big in the spiritual realm or religious at all, but just the thought of that - because I was introduced when I was a kid, so I kind of kept that close - I just kept saying, ‘everything is going to be alright, everything is going to be alright,’ that’s kind of what made me stick it out and not become too crazy.”
The constant strife eventually landed Menifield and his brother at The Way In, a Hollywood-based shelter for troubled youths that Menifield says felt more akin to a prison than anything else, with its group-style shower area, high staff turnover and rigid visitation policies. It was there the Menifield brothers first met Godwin Ezenwa, an African immigrant who worked as a counselor at the facility.
Though they were old enough to be in high school, neither Alonzo nor Cecil could read or write when Ezenwa took them in. But Ezenwa strived to give the boys as normal of a childhood as he could with the few years of adolescence they had left.
“That was Godwin,” Menifield says. “He made it happen. And I guess I got a feel for what’s normal, and then from there I took advantage of it.”
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Football Career and Education
Menifield attended Canyon High School for only two years, but graduated and excelled at football. Menifield continued his football career at NJCAA Glendale Community College (California), where he starred as primarily a linebacker and was an Honorable Mention All-American his sophomore year as well as a member of the track and field team. After his first two seasons at Glendale, Menifield earned a scholarship to Texas A&M University-Commerce where he graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice.
The sudden introduction into public schooling was a challenge, but it ended up transforming Menifield’s young life. For the first time, the troubled teen came to understand a sense of freedom he never truly knew existed, and nowhere was he able to express that newfound freedom more instinctually than on the football field.
Despite his late arrival to football, Menifield was able to muster out a scholarship to Texas A&M University-Commerce, a Division II school where he split his time between the game and his studies. Within a few years, he left university as a bonafide college graduate with a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice - a far cry from the 15-year-old foster kid who couldn’t read or write.
ATOMIC ☢️ | Alonzo Menifield's Best Finishes | UFC St. Louis
Menifield continued the pursuit of his football goals after college, mostly because it felt like what he was supposed to do. The game had taken him far in life, plus people always told him how good he was at it. He didn’t want to disappoint, so he kept the dream alive with stops at the Arena Football League and Canadian Football League. But by the time the CFL entered the picture, Menifield realized he was fooling himself. The weekly jiu-jitsu classes he took up on the side to help his conditioning had reignited a passion that dated all the way back to his childhood days, back to the DragonBall Z doodles and kung fu duels in the backyard.
Mixed Martial Arts Career
And so he made the switch. He hasn’t looked back since. Menifield debuted as an amateur a little more than two years ago, knocking out Eric Miguel with a vicious flourish in just 45 seconds.
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Menifield topped himself the next time out, scoring another 16-second knockout, then kept the good times rolling with a 38-second flattening of Division II All-American wrestler Zach Rosol on a Bellator undercard in his professional debut. Then, this past September, heads really turned after Menifield knocked out Brock Combs so hard at RFA 43 that one of Combs’ teeth bore through Menifield’s glove and embedded itself in his fist, tearing a mess of ligaments on its way in.
“I don’t know how that happened, man,” Menifield says, laughing. “I want to blame somebody but I can’t. We wrapped my hand, I went in there and I hit him with a combination in the second round. I guess I threw a weird uppercut and his teeth went through his mouth guard, through the padding of my glove and my wrap, and it sliced me like a knife.
“I remember being at the hospital and the doctor took my tendon and he slapped it outward, like, ‘yep, they cut it. We’re going to have to put that back together.’ I’m like, whaaat?! So they had to reattach my tendon. I had some of [the tooth] in my hand. They took it out, they cleaned it, gave me shots. It was crazy, man. I don’t know how that happened.”
It took Menifield nearly a half-year to rid his hand of the damage caused by Combs’ pearly whites, but now Menifield is back to 100 percent and ready to embrace the next step of his blossoming young career.
UFC Career Highlights
- Fight of the Night (One time)
- Performance of the Night (One time)
Selected UFC Fights
- UFC Fight Night: Tsarukyan vs.
- UFC on ESPN: Usman vs.
- UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs.
- UFC on ABC: Sandhagen vs.
- UFC on ESPN: Lewis vs. St.
- UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs.
- UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs.
- UFC on ESPN: Font vs.
- UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs.
- UFC on ESPN: Ngannou vs.
- UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs.
Notable Events
Menifield was expected to face William Knight on February 27, 2021 at UFC Fight Night 186. However, the bout was postponed during the week leading up to the event after Menifield tested positive for COVID-19. The pairing was expected to be left intact and rescheduled for UFC 260. This time Knight was removed due to COVID-19 protocols and was replaced by promotional newcomer Fabio Cherant.
At the weight-ins, Cherant weighted 206.5 pounds, half a pound over the non-title light heavyweight limit. Menifield was scheduled to face William Knight on February 27, 2021 at UFC Fight Night 186. However, the bout was postponed during the week leading up to the event after Menifield testing positive for COVID-19.
From circumstances that seemed inescapable all the way to where he is today, no one could have foreseen Menifield’s path. He is a college-educated former professional football player, a survivor who escaped and thrived, who now returns home as a new man with a new goal. And above all else, Menifield is living proof the hand one is dealt in life doesn’t have to be the end.
“It’s the decisions you make,” he says.
“I pride myself on being a guy who listens and reads stuff that’s inspiring or motivational. I definitely had a bad hand that was dealt, and I told myself a long time ago that I was going to make the best of it. And when I look back, I can say I definitely made the best of what I’ve been given. The decisions weren’t all perfect, but hey, that’s the journey.
Football Career Statistics
Freshman year: Honorable mention, Best Improve player, and Most Impressive freshman player. Sophomore year: Received honorable mention All-American and All-City honors. Two-time Linebacker of the Week selection and all-conference selection by the Western State Conference as a sophomore. Events: 100meter, 200meter, and Javelin. Junior year: Sixth on the team with 51 tackles including 25 solos and 26 assisted...recorded three tackles for minus five yards...closed out the season with double-digit tackles efforts against East Central (Oct. 27) and Southwestern Oklahoma State (Nov. 10)...made a season-high 11 tackles against the Bulldogs...recorded a season-high six solo tackles against ECU...two of his five tackles against West Texas A&M (Sept. 15) were for negative yardage...had a tackle for minus yardage and eight total tackles against Tarleton State (Sept. 22). Senior year: I recorded top 3 of tackles of more than five games, also received Iron player. Due to a hyper extended knee, I finish low, but still had a impressive year. 2007: Sixth onthe team with 51 tackles including 25 solos and 26assisted...recorded three tackles for minus five yards...closed outthe season with double-digit tackles efforts against East Central(Oct. 27) and Southwestern Oklahoma State (Nov. 10)...made aseason-high 11 tackles against the Bulldogs...recorded aseason-high six solo tackles against ECU...two of his five tacklesagainst West Texas A&M (Sept. 15) were for negativeyardage...had a tackle for minus yardage and eight total tacklesagainst Tarleton State (Sept. 22). Prior toA&M-Commerce: Received honorable mention All-Americanand all-city honors while playing at Glendale Community College...atwo-time Linebacker of the Week selection and all-conferenceselection by the Western State Conference as a sophomore...led teamto Western State Bowl Victory, where he was named the game'sdefensive MVP after a 15-tackle effort, blocked a field goal andrecovered a fumble.