Dana White suggested Lerone Murphy will get a title shot after his show-stealing UFC 319 win.
The 17-0-1 featherweight contender has flown under the radar for most of his time in MMA’s premier promotion.
Despite slowly climbing the 145lb ranks, Joe Rogan claimed Murphy was overlooked by fans who ‘don’t know about him’ ahead of his UFC 319 co-main event clash with Aaron Pico.
Lerone Murphy knocked out Aaron Pico with a vicious spinning elbow to step out of the shadows on Saturday night.
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Dana White drops title shot hint
Lerone Murphy called for a featherweight title shot during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.
145lb king Alexander Volkanovski named his next opponent and fight date following the UFC 319 co-headliner.
“See you in December @LeroneMurphy congrats #ufc319,” Volkanovski tweeted.
Soon after, Dana White was asked if Volkanovski vs. Murphy was virtually guaranteed during his post-fight press conference.
“Yeah,” he said. “It’s a weird thing to say with a guy who has a record like he has, and sits where he sits in the division, that tonight was sort of a coming-out party for him. But it definitely was.”
“I love it,” he added when told about Volkanovski’s desire to fight Murphy in December.
Who are the other featherweight contenders?
Movsar Evloev is the number one featherweight contender after amassing a 19-0 MMA record.
The undefeated Russian was supposed to fight Aaron Pico last month, but an injury derailed their UFC Abu Dhabi matchup, which gave Lerone Murphy the chance to record a career-best win on three weeks’ notice.
Diego Lopes and Jean Silva will meet in a top-of-the-division clash at Noche UFC on September 13.
Next up, Brian Ortega will fight Aljamain Sterling when the UFC returns to Shanghai, China, on August 23.
The featherweight quartet will have to do something special to wrestle Murphy’s title opportunity away after UFC 319.
Featherweight rankings before UFC 319
- Movsar Evloev
- Diego Lopes
- Yair Rodriguez
- Brian Ortega
- Arnold Allen
- Lerone Murphy
- Aljamain Sterling
- Josh Emmett
- Youssef Zalal
- Jean Silva
- Patricio Pitbull
- Steve Garcia
- David Onama
- Dan Ige
- Giga Chikadze