Ovince Saint Preux on Alonzo Menifield fight: “I can break him in the first round”

Ovince Saint Preux had no hesitation when offered a bout with Alonzo Menifield on short notice.

Originally, Saint Preux was expected to battle Shamil Gamzatov this Saturday night but his opponent withdrew. On just a week and a half notice, Menifield took the fight. For “OSP,” he says he just wanted to fight and the opponent didn’t matter.

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“I wanted to stay on the card. Sometimes you can be like no I don’t want to take the risk. But, I’m feeling really good and have been busting my but on this camp,” Saint Preux said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “I was literally a week out and the amount of work I’ve put in to do that again, I was like nah, we will do it.”

This fight will also mark Saint Preux’s return to light heavyweight. He said there were talks of staying at heavyweight after his split decision loss to Ben Rothwell in May. But, he is eager to go back down to light heavyweight.

In this fight against Menifield, ‘OSP’ knows the Fortis MMA product has heavy hands and knockout power. But, the veteran also knows you need to have more than just power to find success in the UFC.

“He is on the come up but is one of the guys who is hungry and has heavy hands. It is different, in the fight game you can’t just have heavy hands,” Saint Preux explained. “I used to be that, like people thought I was a knockout artist coming up now I’m a submission artist to most people. But, don’t forget I can still knock people out. You need to have more than heavy hands. I’m still evolving and growing. I can knock you out with my hands and feet and get you with a submission you don’t know is coming.”

Ovince Saint Preux is confident he will get his hand raised on Saturday night. He knows Menifield will try and go for an early knockout, but is confident he will be able to break the surging prospect early.

“I’ve been working a lot on my standup just transitioning and being more fluid. Wherever the fight ends up I will have the advantage,” he said. “On the ground, I will definitely have the advantage whether I am on top or he is on top. Striking-wise, he throws a lot of big punches and I am used to be one of those guys throwing a lot of big punches and it takes a lot out of you. I’m excited about it.

“The way I am feeling and the way my cardio is feeling, I can break him in the first round,” Saint Preux said. “I can utilize more weapons than Clark did and that is what I will do.”

If he does just that, Ovince Saint Preux is hoping to get another fight this year and believes he will get a ranked opponent next.

“More than likely a ranked guy will be next. The way I am feeling and the way I revamped myself I am feeling great. I can’t complain. Top-15, top-10, top-5, and I’m taking over,” Saint Prexu concluded. “I’m not worried about it, but I want people to think I am fazed out so when I come in people are like oh shoot where did he come from? Like Jorge Masvidal who came out of nowhere.”

Do you think Ovince Saint Preux will beat Alonzo Menifield?