It was not a perfect performance, but Lerone Murphy only needed one shot to stay undefeated at UFC 267 against Makwan Amirkhani.
An all-Europe battle at UFC 267 saw “Mr. Finland” Makwan Amirkhani take on England’s Lerone Murphy.
The featherweight pairing appeared early on the Abu Dhabi event’s preliminary card, going down Saturday morning for those watching in North America. The bout found the Amirkhani and Murphy on opposite trajectories, with the former on a two-fight skid, and the latter having won two straight since a draw in his promotional debut.
Interestingly enough, it was also Murphy’s fourth consecutive fight in Abu Dhabi — the entirety of his UFC tenure to date.
Murphy opened up with a quick leg kick to start, but it wasn’t long before Murphy took the fight to the mat. Amirkhani then dominated Murphy on the mat for the duration of the round, anytime he tried to get back up he would always be taken right back down. He tried his best to fight the hands to no avail, while he didn’t take much damage he got quite literally nothing off in the way of offense either. Overall, not a great start for Murphy.
Murphy came out with lots of pressure to start round two, looking for a right hand but Amirkhani was still patient. Murphy feinted with a leg kick and as he did, Amirikhani shot in for a takedown but ate a huge knee flush that knocked him out cold. No follow-up shots were needed for Murphy to get the victory, what a huge comeback after a disastrous first round.
It was far from a perfect performance, but Lerone Murphy stayed undefeated. With that knockout win, he remains one of the brightest prospects at featherweight.
Official Result: Lerone Murphy def. Makwan Amirkhani via knockout, 14 seconds of Round Two.
