Menifield didn’t just outshine Crute on the feet, he also excelled in the grappling department by finishing his UFC 290 opponent with a guillotine in the second round.
It wasn’t the war that the first fight was, but Alonzo Menifield looked good in his rematch against Jimmy Crute, submitting the Australian fighter with a guillotine choke in the second round of their UFC 290 fight.
Crute and Menifield fought to a draw at UFC 284 in a fight that Menifield would have won if it weren’t for a point deduction over cage grabbing. This rematch confirmed that Menifield is the better fighter: he was way faster than Crute, and ended up outworking his opponent in the grappling exchanges, which is where Crute usually shines.
The first round saw Crute warily try to get within reach to grab onto Menifield. Menifield was patient and ready to counter. He used his significant speed advantage to light Crute up both when he came in and when the two would split. Crute’s best moments were halfway through the first when he wrapped Menifield up and landed a number of knees. None seemed to affect Alonzo much, though. It seemed like only a matter of time before Crute’s chin would crumble to one of Menifield’s vicious counters. But in the end “Atomic” got the win by grabbing Crute by the neck and dragging him to the ground, twisting an awkward guillotine and forcing Crute to tap.
Crute would take his gloves off in the cage, only to pick them back up at his corner’s request. Maybe it’s the end for him after a 0-3-1 skid.
Watch the highlights and finish here via ESPN:
This submission was slick from Menifield #UFC290 pic.twitter.com/Slj6LCcKLp
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 9, 2023
Alonzo Menifield guillotines Jimmy Crute at UFC 290 pic.twitter.com/uBKM18pfrI
— Takedown Defense (@ChillemThreebo) July 9, 2023
Thrill of victory, agony of defeat… #UFC290 pic.twitter.com/sUYfDW67xI
— UFC (@ufc) July 9, 2023
The wim moves Menifield to 7-3 in the UFC and 14-3-1 in his pro career. Aside from the draw at UFC 284, Menifield is on a nice little streak at light heavyweight, having beaten Askar Mozharov, Misha Cirkunov, and now Jimmy Crute.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 290 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard bouts on ABC/ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
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