One of the UFC 319 co-headliners thinks he knows why the finishes have not been coming for him as of late.
The Octagon is back in the ‘Windy City’ this week as the August UFC pay-per-view goes down from the United Center in Chicago.
A number of intriguing matchups are set for the UFC 319 card, none more so than Dricus du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev’s title clash in the main event. And before they battle for the middleweight gold, top featherweights will collide with a potential title shot at stake.
The undefeated Lerone Murphy is looking to finally secure his first championship opportunity in his 10th UFC fight. His opponent, Aaron Pico, is yet to compete under the promotion’s banner but has the chance to make a major splash against one of the division’s most highly regarded names.
Murphy has won eight straight fights since a draw in his UFC debut six years ago. But the recent years of his undefeated run have been lacking in one thing — finishes.
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Lerone Murphy acknowledges four-year wait for his next UFC knockout
Murphy will welcome Pico to the UFC in Saturday’s co-main event, a bout that comes four months on from the Englishman’s second main event triumph.
After getting past Edson Barboza at the Apex last year, Murphy defeated Josh Emmett in his return to the venue to headline UFC Vegas 105 this past April. Both main event results came via unanimous decision, as did a UFC 308 outing against Dan Ige in-between them.
That has made it five decisions on the bounce since Murphy brutally slept Makwan Amirkhani with a knee in 2021. And ‘The Miracle’ is partly putting the blame for his declining finishing rate on his cut down to the featherweight limit.
“Not knocking people out can be down to a number of things,” Murphy told Card Player. “The level of the opponent has gone up massively.
“I think weight cuts cause me to lose my power. I lose my power, and obviously as you get older, the weight cuts get harder.
“So it’s probably depleting yourself more,” Murphy continued. “I think that’s a big reason for it. But I am trying to round out my game. Before I was a dominant striker and I never really trained much for wrestling.”
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Lerone Murphy tipped to beat Alexander Volkanovski if he wins at UFC 319
With a victory at UFC 319, Murphy will push for a title shot that he already thinks he earned by defeating Emmett last time out.
In that regard, the Briton will have the support of former two-division UFC champion Henry Cejudo, who believes the winner of Saturday’s UFC 319 main event should absolutely be next for Alexander Volkanovski.
And beyond just challenging the Australian legend, Cejudo thinks either Murphy or Pico will become champion.
“The winner of this fight is gonna fight Alexander Volkanovski, and I also feel the winner of this fight is gonna become our next champion,” Cejudo said on his Pound 4 Pound podcast alongside Kamaru Usman.
“All due respect to Volk, but dude, these young guns. Lerone Murphy is fighting Aaron Pico. Aaron Pico is in his f—- prime, bro. Power, wrestling; he has been a manchild since he was a kid, already competing at the highest levels while in high school, beating world champions.
“And then Lerone Murphy, what he has been able to do to a lot of these fighters, man,” Cejudo continued. “Undefeated, very tricky, brings in a lot of the wrestling; he’s different, he’s like Merab (Dvalishvili).”