Alonzo Menifield's ground-and-pound win over UFC debutant Askar Mozharov looked horrible

• Alonzo Menifield sent Askar Mozharov into MMA's shadow realm with a first-round finish Saturday.
• The knockout, which you can see right here, came from forearms and elbows from crucifix position.

LAS VEGAS — American fighter Alonzo Menifield, 34, pounded his UFC opponent Askar Mozharov into smithereens Saturday as he violently finished the Ukrainian fighter with a merciless pounding at the Apex in Las Vegas.

It was an impressive performance from the 15-fight professional Menifield who used the crucifix position on the mat to pummel his opponent with a fierce ground game.

Menifield smothered Mozharov by pressing his forearm into his face. From there, he cracked his temple with the tip of his elbow.

Menifield secured two takedowns from three attempts, and landed an extraordinary 55 strikes from 59 thrown for a 93% accuracy rate.

All 16 of his strikes from the ground found their target, and it is those shots that did the most damage as Menifield scrambled Mozharov's senses.

Mozharov generated headlines for the wrong reasons heading into Saturday's showdown

Menifield gave a wild post-fight interview after his first-round win was formally announced.

"You come in here, this is what I'm going to give you," he said.

The fighter then referenced weird antics from Mozharov and his team as the Ukrainian seemed to own multiple, differing pro MMA records heading into Saturday's showdown.

It became unclear how many wins and losses Mozharov actually had, or how good he really was.

"The dude has three records," Menifield said. "It pissed me off and it just made me furious."

Menifield seemed to take that anger out on Mozharov's face.

"I beat the crap out of him," he said.

Watch Menifield beat the crap out of Mozharov right here:

—ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 4, 2022

With victory, Menifield advanced his pro MMA record to 12 wins (nine knockouts, two submissions, and one decision) against three losses.

Earlier in the show, a UFC match looked like a horror film after Rinat Fakhretdinov's elbow strike caused a laceration so nasty, Andreas Michailidis' ear erupted blood like lava flow from a volcano.

Later, Tony Gravely scored a thumping 68-second knockout before claiming he'd have killed his opponent if it weren't for the referee.

Heavyweight fighters Alexander Volkov and Jairzinho Rozenstruik headlined the UFC Fight Night event.