Light heavyweight veteran Ovince St. Preux (24-14, 11 KOs, 8 SUBs) will meet prospect Alonzo Menifield (9-1, 8 KOs, 1 SUB) at UFC Fight Night: Munhoz vs. Edgar on Saturday, August 22 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Catch the action on ESPN starting 6pm ET, with a main event featuring Frankie Edgar’s bantamweight debut against action fighter Pedro Munhoz. Let’s take a look at the 205-pound tilt between OSP and Menifield and break down your best online betting options.
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Ovince St. Preux (24-14, 11 KOs, 8 SUBs)
It’s odd to scan the top 15 and not see OSP listed. For a good five years, he was a perennial top 10 guy, even fighting Jon Jones for an interim title. The 37-year old has had an up and down UFC career, but anyone that’s made over 20 octagon appearances has to be pretty damn good. This is a guy that’s fought Gegard Mousasi, Ryan Bader, Shogun Rua, Glover Teixeira, Dominick Reyes and Jon Jones. For the most part, anybody that wanted to make some noise at 205 had to get through St. Preux at some point. Most recently, he dipped his toes at heavyweight, losing a split decision to Big Ben Rothwell - he’ll be dropping back down to meet Gamzatov.
OSP is a big dude and a good athlete - making him a pretty solid finisher. On the feet, his high kick is particularly lethal. On the mat, he’s a stellar submission wrestler known for his slick shoulder chokes. There’s nowhere OSP is uncomfortable, but he’s never been the type to force the issue either. You’ll rarely see him outpoint an opponent on the feet, and he’s not an advanced takedown artist. St. Preux is very much an opportunist, but he only needs a little bit of daylight to end a fight.
Despite not having a number next to his name, OSP is a tough test for any young fighter. To overlook him as a stepping stone could be a fatal mistake.
Alonzo Menifield (9-1, 8 KOs, 1 SUB)
Up until his last fight, Menifield was an undefeated fighter who had finished all of his pro opponents. It’s not like he was fighting in no-name circuits either: Menifield’s pro debut came in Bellator, and he bounced around RFA and Legacy Fights - two feeder leagues that have produced solid UFC talent. In 2018, Menifield punched his ticket to the big show when he knocked out Dashan Boatwright in just eight seconds on DWCS. His first two fights went exactly to plan, as he scored first-round knockouts against Vinicius Castro and Paul Craig. However, a step up in competition against Devin Clark resulted in his first loss. To his credit, Menifield had Clark seriously hurt before gassing out in Rounds 2 and 3.
Menifield is still unproven, and he hasn’t shown much beyond a preternatural ability to turn out the lights. He hasn’t needed to be technical - trucking dudes over was working for him. That all stopped against Clark, and hopefully it’s made the 32-year old realize that he needs to have a multi-dimensional approach. Having that killshot power as a crutch is nice, but if Menifield wants to be taken seriously he needs to show that he can win in other ways.
Significant Striking Stats
Strikes landed per minute: St. Preux 2.60 / Menifield 3.6
Striking accuracy: St. Preux 46% / Menifield 46%
Strikes absorbed per minute: St. Preux 2.91 / Menifield 4.72
Striking defense: St. Preux 45% / Menifield 40%
Grappling Stats
Takedown average: St. Preux 1.27 / Menifield 0
Takedown accuracy: St. Preux 40% / Menifield -
Takedown defense: St. Preux 65% / Menifield 85%
Submission average: St. Preux 0.5 / Menifield 0
UFC Picks
We really don’t understand how OSP is the underdog here. For starters, Menifield is coming on as a late replacement with literally a few weeks notice. Second, Menifield is entirely untested on the ground, and OSP is tricky enough to drag him there and lock in a few chokes. Getting OSP at an underdog price is a steal, and I’d even go a step further and check his victory prop to win by submission.
UFC Fight Night Edgar vs. Munhoz Card & Odds
Bantamweight- Frankie Edgar +212 vs. Pedro Munhoz -265
Women’s Flyweight- Shana Dobson +650 vs. Mariya Agapova -1062
Women’s Strawweight- Amanda Lemos +110 vs. Mizuki Inoue -135
Welterweight- Takashi Sato +154 vs. Daniel Rodriguez -186
Light Heavyweight- Marcin Parchnio +196 vs. Mike Rodriguez -240
Lightweight- Austin Hubbard -123 vs. Joe Solecki -147
Featherweight- Mark Striegl +390 vs. Timur Valiev -523
Light Heavyweight - Ovince Saint Preux +108 vs. Alonzo Menifield -132
Welterweight- Carlton Minus -131 vs. Matthew Semelsberger +107
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