Jimmy Crute booked to face Alonzo Menifield at UFC 284 in Perth
Jimmy Crute has his first fight booked since his knee injury.
In February, Crute revealed on Instagram he needed knee surgery and would be done for around a year. It was an operation he needed for years but always put it off until now.
“Absolutely gutted to announce that I will be out for the rest of the year. I need a knee reco. I have been putting this off for years but I have sustained too much damage over the last few fights and it has finally come to the point that if I don’t get it fixed it could turn into a career ending injury,” Crute wrote on Instagram. “I am obviously very disappointed but at the same time a challenge like this is also exciting. It gives me 9+ months to work on other aspects of training and life and come back 100% refreshed and injury free. Thank you all for the continued support. I’m not going anywhere and the Bendigo express is still in full motion.”
Now, the UFC announced Crute will return at UFC 284 in Perth on February 12 – Feb. 11 in North America – and will take on Alonzo Menifield. The event will be headlined by a lightweight title fight as Islam Makhachev takes on featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski.
Jimmy Crute (12-3) is on a two-fight losing skid and he’s coming off a first-round TKO loss to Jamahal Hill last December and before that, lost by TKO to Anthony Smith. The Aussie is ranked 13th at light heavyweight and is 4-3 inside the UFC. In his career, he holds notable wins over Paul Craig and Sam Alvey among others.
Alonzo Menifield (13-3) is now on a two-fight winning streak and coming off a first-round KO win over Misha Cirkunov and before that, he beat Askar Mozharov by first-round TKO. Menifield has been in the UFC since 2019 and is 6-3 with notable wins over Craig and Ed Herman.
With the addition of Crute vs. Menifield, UFC 284 is as follows:
- Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski
- Yair Rodriguez vs. Josh Emmett
- Paulo Costa vs. Robert Whittaker
- Zhang Mingyang vs. Tyson Pedro
- Jack Jenkins vs. Don Shainis
- Parker Porter vs. Justin Tafa
- Josh Culibao vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
- Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield
- Shannon Ross vs. Kleydson Rodrigues
- Kai Kara-France vs. Alex Perez
