Lerone Murphy remained undefeated with a gritty performance to beat Dan Ige in a featured bout on the main card at UFC 308 on Saturday.
Nothing came easy as Murphy had to survive an early knockdown before using a relentless pace and pressure to wear down Ige in the final two rounds. When it was over, Murphy had done enough to secure the victory with all three judges scoring the fight 29-28 in his favor.
“Of course, it was a close fight [but] I landed the cleaner strikes,” Murphy said after his latest win. “It was just a flash knockdown. I was all right. I’m still learning, young in the game. I’m learning on the job. Still getting better. The best is yet to come.”
From the second he was released from the corner, it was Ige was coming after Murphy, throwing vicious shots while closing the distance. Murphy countered with a nasty elbow that actually opened a sizable cut on Ige’s forehead, which led to him grabbing a well-timed takedown.
The fight didn’t stay on the ground for long as Murphy worked his way back to the feet and Ige settling down into a rhythm after he came out of the gates gun blazing.
As the exchanges continued, Ige countered a huge hook from Murphy with a devastating left hand of his own. The punch sat Murphy down on the ground as he scrambled to survive the barrage but once he got back to his feet, the featherweights started trading bombs just as the first round came to an end.
On the restart, Murphy was more wary stepping into the pocket in the exchanges with Ige, who was slowing down with each passing minute.
That allowed Murphy to set up his combinations with more fluidity, mixing up his strikes and keeping Ige guessing. Murphy then delivered a nice body lock takedown but he couldn’t maintain the position as Ige reversed him just before the horn sounded.
Following some stern advice from his coaches, Ige looked to come after Murphy again in the final round but that led to a takedown attempt from the Brit. Ige did a good job countering and he ended up on top while controlling Murphy on the canvas.
With 90 seconds left, Murphy scored a reversal of his own but the fighters eventually got up again and he was able to dish out some punishment with Ige beginning to fade. It was a close round but Murphy’s ability to connect with the better punches in those closing moments secured the victory for him.
Following another impressive win, Murphy hopes his next fight comes against a proven top 10 ranked contender.
“Josh Emmett, let’s go,” Murphy said when calling out the one-time interim title challenger. “I want somebody in that top 10. Let’s go Josh Emmett.”
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