Lerone Murphy was passed up on a title shot and an opportunity to fight a UFC legend.
Murphy was expecting to challenge UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in December, but the promotion opted to go in a different direction. Instead, Volkanovski (27-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) will run things back with Diego Lopes (27-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in the UFC 325 headliner on Jan. 31 from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney (Paramount+).
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Undefeated Murphy (17-0-1 MMA, 9-0-1 UFC) was fresh off a Knockout of the Year contender over Aaron Pico at UFC 319, but it wasn’t enough – and it was double the disappointment for the Brit.
“Now I don’t get the chance to fight Volkanovski,” Murphy told Demetrious Johnson in a recent interview. “I know he’s going to retire after this fight. That’s a legend. Being able to test my skills against a legend, to have his name on my resume is massive. It’s something that I’m never going to be able to get now because of that. Not because I didn’t earn it, because of obviously favoritism and whatever.”
Murphy is unsure who’s next, but expects to return at the UFC Fight Night event on March 21 at The O2 in London.
“I believe they’re going to book me for London. That’s what it looks like, anyways,” Murphy said. “I think they’re going to book me for London. I think it’s going to be (Movsar Evloev or Aljamain Sterling). I don’t care. Obviously people hype up fights, they know that if you cause an argument on Twitter, maybe the matchmakers catch wind, the fight has a bit of backstory there, and I think that’s why these guys do it. … To me, that’s the same fight. Aljamain Sterling or Movsar, same fight, same problem, similar styles. I’m preparing myself for that fight in March.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Lerone Murphy: I won’t get the chance to fight Alexander Volkanovski
