Jimmy Crute and Alonzo Menifield go to absolute war ending in a draw at UFC 284
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, February 11, 2023, for UFC 284, going down live from the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia.
Headlining the event was a champion versus champion clash, as the no. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (25-1) moved up to the lightweight division to challenge no. 2 pound-for-pound ranked UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (23-1) in attempt to become a two-division champion.
Opening up the main card tonight was a light-heavyweight affair between no. 12 ranked Jimmy Crute (12-3) and Alonzo Menifield (13-3). Crute hadn’t competed since 2021, where he went 0-2 on the year suffering defeats via TKO and KO, while Menifield had won his last two-straight, seeing him go 2-0 last year in 2022, securing both victories via knockout.
Continue reading to see how this epic light-heavyweight bout went down:
Official Result: Jimmy Crute vs Alonzo Menifield results in a draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)
Both men open up swinging, Menifield landing a couple hard left hands before Crute shoots on and secures a double leg takedown. Menifield is able to return to his feet but gets slammed down again, this happens three times. Crute is just mauling him.
Crute jumps on a guillotine but loses it, ending up on bottom position momentarily. He wraps up another guillotine however and sweeps Menifield with it before they return to their feet.
Crute appears to be tiring from all that wrestling early on as Menifield hurts and drops him. Menifield remains on top for a minute or so reigning down heavy punches before Crute is able to get back up. Menifield badly hurts Crute in the final five seconds of the first; Crute is however able to secure a takedown to save himself.
What a round!
Crute continues to take an absurd amount of damage into the second, it’s incredible he’s still in this fight.
No one takes these shots from Menifield.
Crute secures his fifth takedown of the fight in the final minute of the second and takes Menifield’s back next to the fence where he searches for a rear naked choke until the round ends.
This is one of the more back-and-forth fights we’ve seen in some time.
Crute closes the distance early on in the third, not without eating a couple heavy shots first, and is about to secure a single leg along the fence until Menifield grabs it.
The referee stops the action and takes a point, and Crute goes for a double leg once the action resumes. He doesn’t secure it right away and readjusts, before ultimately going for that single leg again which he ultimately secures. Crute remains on top for the final three or so minutes of round three.
Two of the judges scored the fight for Menifield, while one scored it for Crute.
But, due to the point deduction, it ends in a draw, becoming the second straight UFC event to have a bout end in a draw.
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