Lerone Murphy claims there was a “slightly dampened atmosphere” at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Manchester in July this year.
UFC 304 marked the organization’s return to Manchester for the first time since 2016. However, the card was scheduled at its usual time for US audiences, with the main card starting at approximately 3 a.m. local time in Manchester.
Murphy would have loved to fight in his hometown, but the Stockport, England native was put off by the timing. “The Iceman” dozed off during the bout and felt the Co-op Live Arena was generally lackluster. Murphy said the crowd was lively when stars like Paddy Pimblett, Tom Aspinall and Leon Edwards made appearances, but overall it was subdued. Murphy has suggested the promotion hold a UFC Fight Night instead, which could be scheduled to coincide with local time, but he understands that people would like a big pay-per-view featuring championship bouts.
“It was good to watch. It was fun to watch. It was fun to watch, actually,” he told Title Sports Network. “Obviously, I wanted to play there, but the timing was just bad. I was falling asleep. I was watching the game, but I was four minutes away from the game. [a.m.] So I thought, ‘Wow, this has got to be quick.’ And it felt like the atmosphere was a little bit dead…Obviously when Paddy came on, the atmosphere was livened up and
[Tom] Aspinall and “Rocky” [Leon
Edwards] But it was a bit quiet at night… We’re just doing a fight night on UK time, but obviously people want to see the champion too.”
Murphy is scheduled to face Dan Ige on October 26 at UFC 308 at the Eisad Arena in Abu Dhabi. While a win alone would be satisfying, the unbeaten featherweight fighter is looking for a stoppage victory against “50K,” a man who has never lost in his career.
“I want to beat him,” Murphy said. “Nobody has ever beaten him and he’s fought the best in the world. Of course I want to beat him. Just getting the win would be good enough, but I want to finish the fight.”
UFC 308 will see featherweight champion Ilia Topuria put the belt on the line against former champion Max Holloway in the main event, and Murphy expects “Blessed” to dominate the Spaniard and score an upset victory.
“I think Holloway will win,” he said. “I think Holloway will overpower him. [knock Topuria out]I think that’s too much [Topuria]there’s just too much output.”
