Lerone Murphy sees Movsar Evloev as his ticket to a UFC title shot.
Both Murphy and Evloev were snubbed of a title shot when Diego Lopes (27-7 MMA, 6-2 UFC) was given a rematch against featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (27-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 325 headliner (Paramount+) at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.
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Murphy (17-0-1 MMA, 9-0-1 UFC) was riding a lot of momentum after scoring a spinning back elbow knockout of Aaron Pico at UFC 319, but now finds himself having to do more work. With Evloev (19-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) as the other top contender Volkanovski welcomed as a challenge, Murphy wants to take him out to stake his claim.
“You give me Evloev, the hardest fight,” Murphy said on the “Pound 4 Pound” podcast. “I think that’s the biggest matchup to make. You give me Evloev, and you make Yair (Rodriguez) and (Aljamain) Sterling fight.”
Volkanovski thinks his next title defense will come from the winner of a potential matchup between Murphy and Evloev, and the Brit agrees.
“If he doesn’t hold on and make it boring, it would be a banger,” Murphy said of Evloev. “Obviously that would be my job to do some defensive wrestling and break off and time something, but I think that’s the fight to make. Everyone says it’s either me or him that’s next in line, so let’s eliminate one and get it cracking.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Lerone Murphy wants UFC to make ‘hardest fight’ vs. Movsar Evloev
