Lerone Murphy remains undefeated, defeats Joshua Culibao at UFC London
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us today, July 22, 2023, for our second UFC London event of the year.
Headlining the event is a matchup of heavyweight contenders, as no. 5 ranked Tom Aspinall (12-3) takes on no. 10 ranked Marcin Tybura (24-7) in the main event of the evening.
Co-headlining the event is a 125 lb affair between former Cage Warriors flyweight champion Molly McCann (13-5) and former Invicta FC bantamweight champion Julija Stoliarenko (10-7-2).
Our second bout that went down on the main card today came at 145 lbs between former FCC featherweight champion Lerone Murphy (13-0-1) and former HEX featherweight champion Joshua Culiabo (11-2-1).
Murphy had gone 4-0-1 since joining the UFC in 2019, while Culibao had gone 3-1-1 through his first five promotional bouts; he came into the bout on a three-fight win streak, while Murphy had won his last four-straight.
Continue reading to see how this featherweight encounter went down:
Official Result: Lerone Murphy def. Joshua Culibao via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
Murphy utilizes some solid leg kicks through the opening five minutes. Murphy lands a good combination toward the end of the round and attempts his second takedown of the fight, Culibao’s defense holding up again as he ends the round with his back to the fence.
Culibao begins the second round with a takedown-heavy gameplan himself. Murphy defends well however and gets back to his striking, eventually taking Culibao’s back in a scramble, holding the position for the final 90 or so seconds of the middle stretch.
Murphy has a dominant third and final round.
After hurting Culibao with a body kick about two minutes in, he follows him to the ground and reigns down some good punches and elbows. Murphy locks up a D’Arce choke on two separate occasions, coming close to securing the stoppage with both attempts, but lets go of each of them to reign down more strikes.
That kick definitely landed. Nasty #UFCLondon https://t.co/uI7MAmTnmz
— The Octagon Obsessed (@octagonobsessed) July 22, 2023
After a stellar performance like this, Lerone Murphy may have a number next to his name come next week.
English talents had gone 1-3 today at UFC London leading up to this bout that saw Murphy pick up just their second win of the event.
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