Credit: Bleacher Report
Lauren Murphy hopes newly found confidence leads to finish at UFC 247
Lauren Murphy is coming off of the best performance of her career at UFC Newark, finishing Mara Romero Borella in the third round via TKO. With going back to her old school ways in Houston, working with her old team — along with adding some new elements to the formula — Murphy is as confident as she as ever been as she prepares for a big women’s flyweight matchup this weekend in the Lone Star State.
Murphy will face Andrea Lee this Saturday night at UFC 247. The event will take place at the Toyota Center in Houston and will feature two title fights, including the main event between Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes for the UFC light heavyweight title.
“Lucky” joined MyMMANews.com to discuss the matchup with Lee, moving to Houston and how UFC 247 has become a hometown fight, competing in her first numbered pay-per-view event, originally agreeing to fight Roxanne Modafferi at UFC 246 before the promotion switched things up, wanting a rematch with Katlyn Chookagian in 2020, eyeing her second consecutive finish and much more.
In addition, Murphy feels like she has grown immensely since her move to Houston and the fighter that we saw on TUF, and even prior to that, is not even close to the same person we will see in the Octagon this weekend.
“For a long time I had a big chip on my shoulder, especially when I got into the UFC,” Murphy told MyMMANews.com. “I think a lot of that had to with feeling not confident and not feeling like I belonged there. I was in a really bad spot mentally for a really long time. I was overtrained, I was under confident and I was told by a lot of people around me that I wasn’t good enough to be in the UFC, that I wasn’t ready for those fights, that the women in the top-10 were on a different level than me, that I didn’t have any skills. I was constantly being fed this stream of ‘you’re not good enough’, and, unfortunately, I believed it.
“Imagine doing your job and feeling like you don’t even belong there. It takes all of the fun right out of fighting. So I spent a lot of time not having fun, not enjoying the process, feeling super anxious, super angry and ashamed, and I came back here with my old team and I don’t feel that way anymore. I feel like a 1,000 pound weight has been lifted off my chest. I’m excited to fight, I’m excited to get in there. I can’t wait to show everybody why I deserve to be on this PPV card. I can’t wait, it’s going to be an awesome show.”
Check out the full interview with Lauren Murphy ahead of her big matchup with Andrea Lee this Saturday at UFC 247 in the video above.
