Featherweight contender Lerone ‘The Miracle’ Murphy extended his unbeaten streak to 15 this past weekend with a hard-fought, but thoroughly deserved, unanimous decision victory over Dan ‘50K’ Ige.
Following his impressive victory at UFC 308 out in Abu Dhabi, British superstar Lerone Murphy could soon find himself in the Top 10 of the featherweight rankings; and ‘The Miracle’ knows exactly who’d make his perfect next dance partner.
Lerone Murphy calls out ‘scary man’ Josh Emmett following victory in Abu Dhabi
Despite suffering a flash knockdown in the opening stanza, Lerone Murphy was able to showcase all the facets of his MMA game as he outworked veteran Dan Ige en route to a solid unanimous decision victory – the fifth of his UFC tenure.
Speaking to Daniel Cormier in the octagon, Murphy would call out 19-4 power puncher and #8 ranked featherweight contender, Josh Emmett, before telling reporters that he’d like it if the fight was made for February or March 2025.
“I feel fresh, and I’d love to get back out there soon; I don’t want to have a long layoff as I feel like I’m in my prime [and] now it’s time to get busy… I think late February would be a good time to get back in there.”
Emmett hasn’t fought for almost a whole year, albeit his last performance ended in devastating fashion as he starched Bryce Mitchell with a thunderous one-punch knockout less than two minutes into the opening round.
“I’ll come into that fight a lot better,” stated Murphy, explaining how “Josh is a scary man, and you can’t make those types of mistakes against them guys [but] they’re the type of fights that I want.
“I want to be switched on in there, I feel like I performed at 60% in there today and I can’t wait to show me at my best – we’re getting there… 100% is me as champion, that’s championship level – that’s what I’m going to bring out, I’m going to bring out that next level when I need to.”
Emmett would respond to the callout on X, posting just the ‘facepalm’ emoji – Murphy would in turn offer a challenge to the Team Alpha Male alumni: “Let’s go man, if you think it’s an easy fight or whatever let’s go and test me.”
Lerone Murphy open to facing Volkanovski, if title rematch doesn’t pan out
Whilst a fight between Murphy and Emmett would be an incredible contest, the featherweight division is a hot cake right now with a host of top contenders potentially just one or two big wins away from a title shot against Ilia Topuria.
That next shot is expected to go to Alexander Volkanovski, who is targeting his title rematch to be made for the recently announced UFC 312 card in Australia – which coincidentally takes place in February 2025, right around the time that Murphy wants to return.
When asked whether he’d be interested in stepping up to face Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 312 in Australia, Murphy would simply note that he has full faith in the matchmaking process.
“Listen, whoever Sean Shelby emails us, we fight – it’s as simple as that.
“We’ll just sit back and wait for the call, the matchmakers have done a great job with me so far, I’ve had eight solid fights in the UFC, and each has been perfect for me at the time it’s been given for my growth so whoever they give me, when the time’s right, we’ll fight.”
Lerone Murphy is now 15-0-1 as a professional MMA fighter, and is 7-0-1 in the UFC with two wins via KO/TKO and five via decision.