{"id":450913,"date":"2026-02-03T09:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T09:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/450913\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T09:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T09:54:11","slug":"lerone-murphy-nothings-concrete-about-ufc-london-being-official-no-1-contender-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/450913\/","title":{"rendered":"Lerone Murphy: ‘Nothing’s concrete’ about UFC London being official No. 1 contender fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Alexander Volkanovski cruised to a second successive victory over Diego Lopes<\/a> atop Saturday\u2019s UFC 325 event in Sydney, a fighter who has long considered himself next in line watched with interest from the other side of the world, wondering how different the result would’ve been had it been him challenging for the UFC featherweight title instead.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old Volkanovski beat Lopes for the first time last April, rebounding from back-to-back knockout defeats to Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria to out-point the Brazilian and reclaim the vacant UFC featherweight championship. History repeated itself<\/a> at the Qudos Bank Arena this past weekend, with Volkanovski romping to another win on the cards.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

But as he approaches 38 later in 2026, Volkanovski’s time at the top might be limited.<\/p>\n

That is, according to the undefeated British contender Lerone Murphy. \u201cI would have gotten the job done,\u201d the No. 4-ranked featherweight told Uncrowned\u2019s “The Ariel Helwani Show”<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n

“Diego made some adjustments and looked better,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cBut Volk just has his number, and everyone knew that was going to happen in that fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a bittersweet viewing experience for Murphy. He’s unbeaten in MMA, and after starting his UFC career in 2019 with a draw against Zubaira Tukhugov, Murphy has claimed big victories over the likes of Edson Barboza, Dan Ige and, more recently, a highlight-reel, first-round knockout over Aaron Pico to punctuate a nine-fight winning streak.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Had it been Murphy rather than Lopes, the result, he says, would’ve been different.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurt watching that fight thinking I should have been there \u2026 it should have been me,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cI really think Father Time catches up to everybody. It\u2019s only natural. Everybody does [get older].<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if I was in there, I would have gotten the job done. I see a lot of things in there that I would have been doing. I feel, right now, that I\u2019m the best in the world at featherweight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy has a chance to prove that when he takes on the No. 1-ranked featherweight Movsar Evloev in the headlining bout of UFC London <\/a>on March 21 at The O2 Arena.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve got a new fight now, so let’s get it,\u201d Murphy said, looking ahead to his role in the main event of a hometown bout, which doubles as his return to England after four fights on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the two best in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would have been a better story [fighting Evloev for the title], but it\u2019s a great fight in London, and the winner will win the title, I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

To get to this headliner in March, Evloev has put together an impressive nine-fight winning streak of his own, which includes decisions over Ige, Arnold Allen and former featherweight champ Aljamain Sterling.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cMovsar is elite,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cHe’s a very good fighter, good everywhere, but I just believe I’m going to take him into deep waters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s going to be defensive wrestling, an ambitious offense, and pressure him to make a mistake. I’ll be hunting for the knockout from bell to bell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Considering that his claim for a title shot has yet to be answered by the UFC, Murphy isn\u2019t quite convinced his upcoming fight is considered internally as the No. 1 contender bout. “Nothing’s concrete,” he acknowledged, “but I hope so.”<\/p>\n

Regardless, Murphy added, \u201cThe matchmakers know what type of matchup this is. Everyone knows what type of fight this is going to be. And what type of fighter I’m fighting against. So I think the winner should be undeniably next in line for the title, simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

And while Murphy set his alarm Saturday to tune in at an unsociable hour and watch Volkanovski retain his championship, the champ will no doubt do the same, as he has long targeted the winner.<\/p>\n

Volkanovski told Uncrowned earlier in the year that he\u2019d \u201crather have an undefeated fighter like Movsar or Murphy\u201d<\/a> than have to fight Lopes a second time. And because he wants activity this year \u2014 front-loading fights while he\u2019s still in his 30s \u2014 it is, perhaps, a bout that materializes in the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cVolk is the guy I have the utmost respect for as a champion,\u201d Murphy said, when told of the champion\u2019s support. \u201cIf it were up to him, he would have fought me. And he’s going out there and fighting the next best. It’s how every champion should be. Hopefully, I get the chance to share the Octagon with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Murphy can do is keep doing what he\u2019s been doing his entire career. \u201cIt will bring the best out of me,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll put on a great fight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Alexander Volkanovski cruised to a second successive victory over Diego Lopes atop Saturday\u2019s UFC 325 event in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[28981,49,48,36995,641,35893,638,82,640],"class_list":["post-450913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-alexander-volkanovski","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-diego-lopes","tag-fighting","tag-lerone-murphy","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}