The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s light heavyweight division was thrown into a state of disarray with the recent departure of longtime titleholder Jon Jones, and even those competitors lurking outside the Top 15 see renewed potential for upward mobility.
Against that backdrop, Ovince St. Preux will confront Fortis MMA export Alonzo Menifield in the UFC Fight Night 176 co-headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. St. Preux has compiled a 12-9 record since he joined the roster as part of the Strikeforce merger in 2013. A former linebacker at the University of Tennessee, he returns to the 205-pound weight class following a failed move to heavyweight, as he wound up on the wrong side of a split verdict against Ben Rothwell at UFC Fight Night 171 on May 13. Meanwhile, Menifield finds himself on the rebound following his first career setback—a unanimous decision defeat to Devin Clark at UFC 250 in June. He had finished all nine of his previous opponents, seven of them inside one round.
As St. Preux and Menifield make final preparations for their three-round throwdown, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
37: Years of age for St. Preux, who was born on April 8, 1983 in Immokalee, Florida.
8: St. Preux wins by submission, accounting for one-third of his career total (24). His methods of choice: four shoulder chokes, one calf slicer, one rear-naked choke, one kimura and one straight armbar.
10: Finishes for St. Preux as a UFC light heavyweight, tying him with Jon Jones for second on the division’s all-time list. Only Glover Teixeira (11) has more.
4: Sub-minute stoppage victories on the St. Preux resume. He submitted Jonathan Smith with a rear-naked choke in 46 seconds at a Vendetta Fighting Championship event on Sept. 5, 2009, cut down Chris Hawk with punches in 47 seconds at a Strikeforce show on April 17, 2010, knocked out Jason Day in eight seconds at Evolution Fighting Championships 5 on July 24, 2010 and took care of Mauricio Rua with punches in 34 seconds at UFC Fight Night 56 on Nov. 8, 2014.
7: Post-fight bonuses pocketed by St. Preux in 21 appearances under the UFC banner. He has been awarded “Fight of the Night” once and “Performance of the Night” six times, resulting in $350,000 of additional income.
32: Years of age for Menifield, who was born in Los Angeles on Oct. 18, 1987.
8: Seconds needed for Menifield to put away Dashawn Boatwright with punches on Season 2 of Dana White’s Contender Series. It remains the fastest finish in the history of the promotion and granted the Fortis MMA rep entry to the UFC.
1: Menifield victory by submission. He tapped Brice Ritani-Coe with a rear-naked choke 2:41 into the first round of their encounter at Legacy Fighting Alliance 33 in February 2018.
40: Significant strikes by which Menifield was outlanded in his aforementioned loss to Clark three months ago. He was bested by better than a 2-to-1 margin (79-39) in the category and absorbed 56 significant strikes to the body alone.
14: Takedowns successfully defended by Menifield out of 15 attempts against him inside the Octagon. Only Clark has managed to take down the Bellator MMA alum.