Lerone Murphy and Dan Ige were the second fight in at UFC 308 on Saturday, and had a tough act to follow after Shara Bullet’s double-spinning backfist KO of Amren Petrosyan.
The featherweights got straight to work, with Hawaii’s Ige pressing forward and throwing bombs, trying to bully Murphy up against the fence. Murphy spent much of the opening minute either circling or covering up; just past a minute in, Ige switched things up and landed a takedown with ease.
Murphy’s landing had been advantageous in that he wound up sitting with his back to the fence, giving him the opportunity to wall-walk up. Ige, however, laced his legs around Murphy’s and soon negated that advantage. Eventually, Murphy would make it back up, but Ige connected inside the final minute, and had Murphy hurt! Ige went on the offensive, and began pouring it on. Murphy was covering up under heavy fire and at points looked like he was being rag-dolled. He did manage to regroup enough to fire off a switch knee, then likely saved his own skin with a key takedown, with Ige reversing just prior to the buzzer.
Despite the close call at the end of the opening frame, Lerone Murphy appeared to have recovered come round two. The pace slowed a little through the opening minute, which saw a bit of back-and-forth on the feet but not a ton of action. Ige went to the body, while Murphy hit a low kick answered with a left hand. At the midway mark, Ige would shoot for a takedown, but was both too far out, and not low enough to do any more than send Murphy to the fence. There, Lerone reversed the position, winning the battles for head position and wrist control for a bit. Ige would reverse again, but nearly wound up clipped off the break.
Murphy capped off a much better round two with solid footwork, low and high kicks, slick head movement, and a takedown inside of the final minute. He quickly transitioned to mount, with Ige appeared to have tired. The Hawaiian gave up his back but was able to slip out the back door. Murphy worked a triangle attempt off his back, but ran out of time.
Round three opened with Ige and Murphy likely tied one around apiece. This time out it was Ige eventually getting the upper hand on the ground (not before a slick spinning back kick by Lerone), getting on top of Murphy. Ige couldn’t get a lot done from there, and Murphy would return to his feet. Along the fence, the pair grappled, with the fight still up for grabs. Now, it was Murphy working on a takedown. Ige wound up on his knees, Murpy dropping blows, only to be warned for hitting the back of the head. Murphy then looked for a front choke, but Ige was able to escape, get up, and fire a knee before they traded looping hooks . A final flurry saw Murphy land a knee and both men raise their hands in victory following an exciting, back-and-forth fight.
Murphy, now 15-0-1, called out Josh Emmett following a unanimous decision win on the scorecards.
Official Result: Lerone Murphy def. Dan Ige by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
