On the same night that Khabib Nurmagomedov united the lightweight titles against Dustin Poirier, his teammate took a debuting opponent.
Lerone Murphy achieved a lot between his Octagon debut in 2019 and his second main event at UFC Vegas 105 on 5 April.
The Brit has yielded seven consecutive victories to climb the ranks with featherweight with some spectacular versions that emphasize Murphy as a to look.
On Saturday evening in the UFC Apex, Murphy gets his wish after he calls to see Veteran Josh Emmett after his victory over UFC 308 in October.
He has been so successful in his career that some may have forgotten the small setback he suffered during his UFC debut that remains the only stain of his undefeated record.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Lerone Murphy fought for a draw with Zubaira Tukhugov at UFC 242 in 2019
On UFC 242 in September 2019, Lerone Murphy made his UFC debut as an 8-0 underdog against the teammate of Khabib Nurmagomedov, Zubaira Tukhugov.
Tukhugov had gone 3-0 in the Octagon before he ran a loss for Renato Moicano on UFC 198 in 2016.
All plans that the Russian had to return were pushed back one year because of his involvement in the Brawl after UFC 229 that broke out after the main event between Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.
Tukhugov was suspended for a year, which was later reduced by a month to allow him to fight at 242, after he attacked in the Octagon and attacked McGregor.
Nurmagomedov's teammate started strongly on his return and dropped Murphy early in the first before he dominated the round at the top.
The Brit got the chance to show his striking capacity in the second and despite being brought down again, he was able to threaten with submission attempts and eventually get up again.
Both men had their moments in the second and third round with Tukhugov who ended the fight with almost 9 and a half minutes of control time, while Murphy surpassed him.
The narrow fight was reflected by the score cards where each judge had a different result, which resulted in a rare split draw.
Since then, Tukhugov has only fought four times after he was cut out of the schedule in February 2023 after a loss for Elves Brener and several canceled fights.
As far as Murphy is concerned, he has not been looked back since he left a lasting impression in his introduction to the UFC.
Lerone Murphy has taken a long way since UFC 242
Both in terms of where he is in his career and his skills, Lerone Murphy has continued to evolve since his UFC 242 in debut.
We have not seen that an opponent struggles Murphy's struggling consistently as Takhugov did and although that could be the matchup, we also saw that the Brit was much more dangerous than he was in his first Octagon outing.
The 33-year-old is well completed, but his fresh and accurate striking is by far his strongest skills.
He will now look to test that against one of the most dangerous one-punch knockout artists we have ever seen when he takes on Josh Emmett.
Comments