Iwo Baraniewski entered this fight 9-0 in his professional MMA career, with nine first-round finishes. Now, his undefeated run comes to an end at the hands of a split decision loss to Alonzo Menifield.
Menifield looked to close the distance and land his power early, swinging wildly but not landing much in the opening round. Menifield tasted Baraniewski’s power, however, thanks to a couple of right hands from Baraniewski.
Baraniewski wobbled Menifield with a combination, landing a couple of strong combinations with Menifield’s back to the fence. After some battling against the fence, Baraniewski tagged Menifield again but saw a horn for the first time in his professional MMA career.
Menifield tagged Baraniewski early into the second round, and the fight’s pace slowed as they went against the fence again. Baraniewski landed a combination to back up Menifield, but he answered by tagging Baraniewski more.
Notably, Menifield’s thumb on his left hand appeared to be broken, looking bent back and bloodied. He was allowed to continue, however, and the two spent much of the third round battling against the fence. The biggest shots of the round included a combination that hurt Baraniewski and Baraniewski’s combination of strikes before the horn.
Menifield has now won four of his last five fights, coming into this bout off a win over Zhang Mingyang at UFC Macau in May.
