Preview: UFC Fight Night 212 ‘Grasso vs. Araujo’

Middleweights

Misha Cirkunov (15-8) vs. Alonzo Menifield (12-3)

ODDS: Menifield (-200), Cirkunov (+170)

Misha Cirkunov is searching for answers, and the latest hope is that a move back to light heavyweight will help him regain some momentum. Born in Latvia and representing Canada, Cirkunov came to the UFC as both the next hope for a Canadian contender and one of the best light heavyweight prospects in the world, mostly on the back of some impressive judo and grappling skills. Through four UFC bouts, Cirkunov was an absolute terror, so the expectation was that a 2017 bout against Volkan Oezdemir - who was assumed to be much worse than his ranking at the time - would serve as the launching pad to send Cirkunov into true contender status. Instead, Cirkunov got knocked out in 28 seconds, a result that has seemingly sent his career permanently careening off the rails. Cirkunov has found wins on the mat against Patrick Cummins and Jimmy Crute, but bout after bout has seen him look uncomfortable on the feet, resulting in a streak of seemingly-inevitable knockouts until Cirkunov cut down to middleweight last year. That didn't prove to solve much; Cirkunov didn't get knocked out in either of his two bouts at 185 pounds, but he struggled to implement his wrestling in an ugly decision loss against Krzysztof Jotko before suffering a shocking armbar submission against Wellington Turman in February. Turman seemed like an advantageous matchup, so it appears the bottom has officially fallen out for Cirkunov, who, to say the least, badly needs a win here against Alonzo Menifield. A raw athlete upon his UFC debut in 2019, Menifield has turned into a solid enough fighter, even if it appears unlikely that the expected great leap forward will ever happen. Menifield isn't a glass cannon, but tends to run out of ideas if he can't score a quick knockout, which tends to make him both more predictable and less comfortable as his fights go on - given a subpar athlete, Menifield can blow through them like tissue paper or plug away for a clear decision win, but things tend to get dicey against someone who can match "Atomic" strength for strength. That's a bit worrisome here given the potential for Cirkunov to bust out some judo and find a submission, but that likely requires Cirkunov to weather some early damage, which has been a non-starter for the last few years. The pick is Menifield via first-round knockout.

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Grasso vs. Araujo
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The Prelims