Alonzo Menifield Faces 180-Day Medical Suspension After UFC 331 Win

Alonzo Menifield left UFC 331 with a split-decision victory, a 19-6-1 record and a medical suspension that could keep him out for six months.

MMA Fighting reported that Menifield injured his left thumb in the opening round against Iwo Baraniewski and received a 180-day suspension with 180 days of no contact for a possible fracture, unless a physician clears him earlier. MMA Fighting reported that he also received a 45-day suspension with 30 days of no contact for a hard bout, plus the mandatory seven-day suspension.

The distinction matters. This is not a confirmed six-month absence because the physician-clearance provision could shorten it. It is still a meaningful interruption for the UFC’s No. 14 light heavyweight, especially because no next bout is booked and the available information provides no recovery timetable beyond the commission’s conditions.

The injury interrupts Menifield’s best recent stretch

Menifield has won four of his past five bouts. He beat Julius Walker by split decision in February 2025, took a unanimous decision over Oumar Sy that June and then lost by first-round knockout to Volkan Oezdemir in November. He rebounded with a first-round knockout of Zhang Mingyang in May 2026 before edging Baraniewski at UFC 331.

That sequence matters more than the headline-level winning percentage. Menifield’s recent results have not followed one narrow path: three of the four wins went to the scorecards, while the other ended in the first round. Across 21 archived bouts, he has 14 wins, including seven by knockout or TKO, two by submission and five by decision. His 64% finish rate applies specifically to those 14 archived wins, not to every fight or to a small recent sample.