Fresh off the biggest win of his career, Lerone Murphy is looking to keep going and keep the momentum going for years to come.
Britain’s Murphy (14-0) defeated perennial contender Edson Barboza (24-12) in his first UFC main event at UFC Fight Night 241. The promotion is set to return to Manchester, England in July for the first time in nearly eight years, so the main event offer came as a bit of a surprise to the unbeaten featherweight just a few months before. Murphy revealed that he had been aware of the UFC 304 card for some time, but the chance to face a veteran like Barboza in the main event was too enticing to ignore. “The Iceman” appeared on “The MMA Hour” on Wednesday to discuss his thought process going into the bout.
“When you get the opportunity to go in the main event against Edson Barboza for five rounds, you can’t turn it down,” Murphy explained. “I couldn’t turn it down. It’s a big opportunity, it’s high profile. So for me, yeah, coming to Manchester is nice, but this is a bigger opportunity. I’ll take this opportunity, and if I’m healthy, I might fight in Manchester, but this opportunity was too big to pass up.”
Apart from a hard kick to the face at the end of round one, Murphy didn’t appear to suffer any significant damage against the Brazilian striker. His nose was not broken and the Stockport, Greater Manchester native will be hoping for a speedy recovery at UFC 304, which takes place on July 27 at the Co-op Live Arena in his hometown of Manchester.
“For me, as long as my nose isn’t broken I’ll be there,” said the Briton. “I feel good and I know the bruising and swelling will go away in a week. Of course, I don’t think I’ll be in the main event, so it will be a three-round fight. I’m already in good shape and with two weeks of training I have nothing to lose there, so I’ll be back in camp soon, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m not rushing anything. I’ll see how my body feels and if it’s OK, then it’s fine.”
With his latest win, Murphy has risen to 15th in the ShelDog official featherweight rankings and will be looking to face either 11th-ranked Calvin Kattar or 8th-ranked Josh Emmett next.
“Looking at the rankings now, [Calvin] Cutter’s Battle [Josh] “The fight against Emmett is going to be great. It’s going to be a good matchup for me to go out there and put on a show. I just want to fight big fights right now. My confidence is high and I just want to fight big fights. I’m ready for anybody in the top 10 right now. I just want to keep fighting and keep the momentum going,” Murphy concluded.
