For as quietly as unbeaten Lerone Murphy has snuck up on the UFC featherweight title picture, his spinning back elbow knockout of Aaron Pico last August — on short notice, no less — proved to be a resoundingly loud statement that his ascension upon the rankings can no longer be denied.
“I’m used to people overlooking me,” Murphy told CBS Sports HQ on Tuesday. “I’m like the silent assassin. I come in and people underestimate me. That’s the worst thing they can ever do.”
Although the 34-year-old native of Manchester, England, did not get the immediate title shot he coveted by recording his ninth straight win inside the Octagon, Murphy (17-0-1) was given what likely amounts to one more chance to prove himself in Saturday’s final eliminator.
Murphy, the No. 3 ranked featherweight, will enter as a slight betting underdog when he faces fellow unbeaten and No. 1 ranked Movsar Evloev (19-0) inside the O2 Arena in the main event of UFC Fight Night in London (special start time of 4 p.m. ET on Paramount+). Even though neither fighter has been guaranteed a title shot with a win, the expectations remain that a strong performance from the winner should be enough.
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While Murphy, who replaced an injured Evloev against Pico, isn’t bitter about being passed over by matchmakers for Alex Volkanovski’s February title defense in Australia at UFC 235, he did call the champion’s subsequent decision win over Diego Lopes, whom Volkanovski fought for the second straight time, an “I told you so” moment.
“For sure, I thought that all fingers pointed in [my] direction [after knocking out Pico,]” Murphy said. “Obviously, before I stepped in, people were saying Movsar and Pico were in a No. 1 contender fight. I took that fight on short notice in the co-main event and KOed him in spectacular fashion on a big card. I thought straight away there was no one else Volkanovski could’ve fought and I thought I would be the guy.”
Evloev, a 32-year-old from Russia, has been slowed down considerably by a series of injuries and illnesses in recent years that have limited him to just four fights over the past four years. The good news for Evloev’s title hopes, however, is that all four fights came against elite competition — Dan Ige, Lopez, Arnold Allen and Aljamain Sterling — that made his inclusion in such a fight as this inevitable.
Murphy, on the other hand, has embarked upon a journey over the past 15 years of his adult life that has been anything but normal, predictable or easy. So, when tasked with the challenge of waiting for his moment against all odds, Murphy can take solace in the fact that he has learned to feel a sense of destiny carrying him throughout each difficult step up the ladder.
“I’m wired differently. I believe I’m cut from a different cloth,” Murphy said. “Many people wouldn’t have even started training after what I went through.”
If it isn’t already crazy enough to consider that Murphy didn’t begin training MMA until the age of 22, what happened to him one year prior in 2013 is almost unthinkable.
Years after a teenage knee injury cut short his goal of becoming a professional soccer player, a 21-year-old Murphy had graduated college but severely lacked direction. After falling into local gang culture, he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time exiting a barber shop when a car drove by and shot him three times in the neck and face.
A conscious Murphy went to spit out blood and bullets literally came out onto the sidewalk next to him. He lost teeth, needed a tracheotomy to breathe and spent a week in intensive care. To this day, he still has a bullet shard embedded in his tongue.
Not only did Murphy miraculously survive, however, the experience turned his life around as he began training MMA in earnest the following year. Five years later, he made his UFC debut in 2019, fighting Zubaira Tukhugov to an exciting split draw at UFC 242 in a fight that would trigger the nine-bout winning streak that followed.
But that’s not where Murphy, who aptly calls himself “The Miracle,” would see his setbacks and challenges end. In 2022, just seven months after a highlight-reel knockout of Makwan Amirkhani raised his UFC profile considerably, Murphy was struck by a car in a cycling accident that left him bleeding with a head injury.
The accident became yet another near-fatal experience when it took an ambulance 45 minutes to arrive on the scene, nearly causing Murphy to bleed to death. Murphy, who was told he would never fight again, somehow returned to the Octagon just 10 months later when he took a split decision from Gabriel Santos in London.
“I think it’s destiny and I believe it’s my calling to then pass this story on to the younger generation,” Murphy said. “There are a lot of people who go through things and come across some hurdles and they are not able to get past it. I believe I’m the person able to show people it is doable, especially from the kids coming from deprived areas. That is one of my goals to do after fighting, to get these guys the opportunity and mindset to look around them and do better.
“I just think it’s consistency, faith and having a good support system around you. Because it’s like, if you have no one to lean on in tough times, it’s hard but if you have a good support system, I believe you are stronger than anything.”
Against Evloev, the task is simple for Murphy, who has yielded at least four takedowns in five of his 10 UFC bouts — keep his back off of the mat. Should the fight be a five-round kickboxing match, the advantage moves quickly into the favor of Murphy but that won’t be easy considering Evloev averages just shy of five takedowns per 15 minutes.
But at the end of the day, especially after exciting Brazilian striker Jean Silva has already publicly announced that he believes he is next for Volkanovski, Murphy knows that a victory isn’t enough. He will need to be exciting.
“I think everybody knows what the guys from that region do. Movsar is an excellent grappler, wrestler and I think it’s clear as day that are his strengths,” Murphy said. “I think he’s well-rounded and can fight everywhere but I just believe in myself. I just think I’m very creative, very smart in there. I don’t just fight. I’m always setting things up, I’m always changing distance and letting it go. I think that’s just where the difference will be.
“I think he can hang with anyone on the feet for a certain time but I think the longer he stands with me, the greater chance he has of getting knocked out. I just want to go out there and have a good fight. I don’t want the fight to be boring, I just want to have a good fight.”
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