Andrea Lee vs. Lauren Murphy targeted for February event in Houston
The women’s flyweight division continues to build its intrigue as another pivotal fight looks to be heading to the Lone Star State in 2020.
Multiple sources have confirmed to MyMMANews.com that a fight between Andrea Lee and Lauren Murphy is in the works for the UFC’s return to Houston, Texas. The event is slated to take place Feb. 8 at the Toyota Center and will be the first event for the organization in Houston in a little over two years. No word on whether or not the card will be a Fight Night card on ESPN or ESPN+, or if it will be a pay-per-view event.
Lee will look to bounce back after suffering her first loss since January 2017. “KGB” took an impressive seven-fight winning streak into September’s UFC 242 event in Abu Dhabi and would lose a unanimous decision to Joanne Calderwood. The 30-year-old Lee has picked up Octagon victories over Veronica Macedo, Ashlee Evans-Smith and Montana De La Rosa since making her promotional debut in May 2018.
Murphy returned to action following a 14-month layoff in August at UFC Newark and had the best performance of her Octagon career to this point. “Lucky” finished Mara Romero Borella via third-round TKO. After appearing on TUF 26 in 2017, Murphy has won two out of her last three fights, including a win over Barb Honchak at the TUF 26 Finale in Dec. 2017.
The last time a UFC event was held in Houston was in February 2017. UFC Fight Night 104 was headlined by a featherweight bout between Chan Sung Jung and Dennis Bermudez in a fight that saw “The Korean Zombie” get his hand raised via a first round knockout.
Thus far, one event has been officially confirmed for 2020 with the UFC heading to Raleigh, NC on Jan. 25. The week prior, the UFC will have its first PPV event of the calendar year that is expected to take place in Las Vegas.
