Preview: UFC 296 Prelims

Light Heavyweights

#15 LHW | Dustin Jacoby (19-7-1, 7-4-1 UFC) vs. #14 LHW | Alonzo Menifield (14-3-1, 7-3-1 UFC)

ODDS: Jacoby (-270), Menifield (+220)

This light heavyweight pairing checks a lot of boxes as an entertaining fight and a sorting matchup for the bottom of the divisional rankings. Jacoby’s UFC comeback has been one of the more pleasant surprises of the last few years. “The Hanyak” had a two-fight stint with the promotion that quietly ended early in 2012, then essentially became an afterthought in mixed martial arts after falling into a moderately successful kickboxing career. Jacoby eventually made the jump back to mixed martial arts in 2020, and it has gone surprisingly well. Jacoby is obviously still at his best as a striker, and some fights early in this stint saw him clearly struggle with the transition back to this sport. When opponents were able to apply a lot of pressure and mix in some wrestling, Jacoby could often fall behind while trying to process all the goings on. However, Jacoby has gotten more comfortable as he has kept active, and the end result was a seven-fight undefeated streak to kick off his UFC return. Jacoby has started to hit the upper crust of the light heavyweight division in the last year and a change, and it has been a mixed bag. He starched Da Un Jung and Kennedy Nzechukwu in impressive bits of business, but losses to Khalil Rountree and Azamat Murzakanov saw him struggle to separate himself against opponents capable of throwing consistent power without folding. That makes for an interesting pairing against Menifield, who has quietly put together a solid run recently.

Menifield has always been an impressive prospect from an athleticism standpoint, but there was a bit of a worry that “Atomic” was coming to the sport late enough that he could not put together a consistent run. While it is hard to say that Menifield has put together a particularly deep game, it has not held him back from success. He is a clear knockout threat, and while he is at his best marching forward and slugging it out, he can also break out some surprisingly effective grappling. Menifield does tire when forced to keep up any sort of consistent pace, which does give Jacoby a clear path to victory in the later rounds, assuming he can survive the early offense his counterpart brings to the table. Menifield’s power does make that a clear question, but Jacoby has proven his durability enough in this run to earn the benefit of the doubt. The pick is Jacoby via third-round stoppage.

Jump To »
Emmett vs. Mitchell
Aldana vs. Rosa
Garbrandt vs. Kelleher
O’Neill vs. Lipski
Jacoby vs. Menifield
Ulanbekov vs. Durden
Fili vs. Almeida
Buday vs. Gaziev
Brown vs. Salikhov