Rio de Janeiro – UFC flyweight Lauren Murphy will be more than happy to play spoiler for the home crowd when she faces Jessica Andrade at UFC 283 on Saturday night.
“I’m pumped to fight in front of the Brazilian fans because they’re so notorious for like the energy that they bring to all the events. I love to come in and be the villain and be the underdog, and like spoil people’s plans and spoil their party,” Murphy told reporters on Wednesday.
“I’m expecting them to really support Jessica and that’s what the fans are supposed to do. I think it’s pretty badass actually when like you have a whole arena full of people and the energy is just so intense like that.”
In Andrade she will face a powerful striker that’s very aggressive from start to finish. Murphy isn’t worried about what he opponent is planning to do in the octagon on Saturday night.
“I haven’t really thought much about what Jessica’s going to do. To me it doesn’t matter what she’s going to do. She can play whatever game she wants. She’s going to end up fighting my fight so that’s it. I just think about what I’m going to do to be honest with you,” Murphy said.
Historically a win over Andrade has propelled fighters into the title shot discussion and it’s something Murphy wants to do in order to get another shot at flyweight champion Valentine Shevchenko.
“That’s why I asked for this fight. It’s definitely a tougher fight than my last one. It’s like a bigger mountain to climb, bigger bite to chew. It just presented a whole different style than what Miesha (Tate) presented,” she said.
“Yeah just a different kind of challenge and it’s a hard one. That’s what I want so when I do get back to the title I’ll feel confident and I’ll have that experience. For me it’s all about taking those challenges and seeing how far I can go. She just happened to be like the perfect person, and the perfect place at the perfect time.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Lauren Murphy above. Murphy takes on Jessica Andrade at UFC 283 on Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro.
