Lerone Murphy remained undefeated with a gritty efficiency to beat Dan Ige in a featured bout on the principle card at UFC 308 on Saturday.
Nothing got here straightforward as Murphy needed to survive an early knockdown earlier than utilizing a relentless tempo and strain to put on down Ige within the closing two rounds. When it was over, Murphy had carried out sufficient to safe the victory with all three judges scoring the battle 29-28 in his favor.
“After all, it was an in depth battle [but] I landed the cleaner strikes,” Murphy stated after his newest win. “It was only a flash knockdown. I used to be all proper. I’m nonetheless studying, younger within the recreation. I’m studying on the job. Nonetheless getting higher. One of the best is but to return.”
From the second he was launched from the nook, it was Ige was coming after Murphy, throwing vicious pictures whereas closing the space. Murphy countered with a nasty elbow that truly opened a large minimize on Ige’s brow, which led to him grabbing a well-timed takedown.
The battle didn’t keep on the bottom for lengthy as Murphy labored his manner again to the ft and Ige settling down right into a rhythm after he got here out of the gates gun blazing.
Because the exchanges continued, Ige countered an enormous hook from Murphy with a devastating left hand of his personal. The punch sat Murphy down on the bottom as he scrambled to outlive the barrage however as soon as he bought again to his ft, the featherweights began buying and selling bombs simply as the primary spherical got here to an finish.
On the restart, Murphy was extra cautious moving into the pocket within the exchanges with Ige, who was slowing down with every passing minute.
That allowed Murphy to arrange his combos with extra fluidity, mixing up his strikes and protecting Ige guessing. Murphy then delivered a pleasant physique lock takedown however he couldn’t preserve the place as Ige reversed him simply earlier than the horn sounded.
Following some stern recommendation from his coaches, Ige appeared to return after Murphy once more within the closing spherical however that led to a takedown try from the Brit. Ige did a very good job countering and he ended up on high whereas controlling Murphy on the canvas.
With 90 seconds left, Murphy scored a reversal of his personal however the fighters finally bought up once more and he was in a position to dish out some punishment with Ige starting to fade. It was an in depth spherical however Murphy’s potential to attach with the higher punches in these closing moments secured the victory for him.
Following one other spectacular win, Murphy hopes his subsequent battle comes in opposition to a confirmed high 10 ranked contender.
“Josh Emmett, let’s go,” Murphy stated when calling out the one-time interim title challenger. “I would like any individual in that high 10. Let’s go Josh Emmett.”
