Lerone
Murphy danced with one of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division’s
heaviest hitters for 25 minutes and walked out of the Octagon no
worse for it.
The undefeated Manchester Top Team linchpin stayed undefeated with
a unanimous decision over Josh Emmett
in the five-round
UFC on ESPN 65 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas. Scores were 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46—all for Murphy (16-0-1,
8-0-1 UFC), who has rattled off seven straight victories since his
split draw with Zubaira
Tukhugov in 2019.
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Emmett (19-5, 10-5 UFC) completed multiple takedowns but could not
track down the elusive Englishman on the feet. Murphy blasted him
with a variety of kicks to the legs and body, traded punches
occasionally and circled out of danger. He countered effectively,
mixed in close-range elbows at times and, most importantly, kept
himself out of harm’s way against an opponent with nuclear punching
power. Frustration overtook Emmett late in the fifth round, where
he beckoned “The Iceman” forward and seemed to intimate that he was
retreating from contact. Murphy did not take the bait.
Meanwhile, two-time Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder
Pat
Sabatini outclassed Joanderson
Brito to a one-sided unanimous decision in their three-round
co-main event. Sabatini (20-5, 7-2 UFC) swept the scorecards with
30-26, 30-26 and 30-27 marks from the cageside judges.
Brito (17-5-1, 5-3 UFC) was a non-factor. Sabatini executed
takedowns in all three rounds, moved from one advantageous position
to another, applied his ground-and-pound and flirted with
submissions whenever the mood arose. By the time it was over, he
had accrued nearly 14 minutes of control time against the flummoxed
Brito.
Sabatini, 34, has won nine of his past 11 fights.
Further down the bill, “Road to UFC” Season 2 winner Chang Ho
Lee disposed of Cortavious
Romious with sustained ground-and-pound in the second round of
their bantamweight showcase. Romious (9-4, 0-2 UFC), who missed
weight by 3.5 pounds, succumbed to blows 3:48 into Round 2.
The 30-year-old Lee (11-1, 2-0 UFC) waded through some adversity,
opened a significant cut near his adversary’s right eye in a
frenetic first five minutes and then turned up the heat in the
second round.
There, he dodged an ill-advised armbar attempt from Romious,
advanced to the back and flattened out the American before
unleashing a string of unanswered punches and elbows. The blitz
left referee Chris Tognoni no choice but to
intervene.
Lee will carry a five-fight winning streak into his next
outing.
Elsewhere, Xtreme Couture mainstay Brad
Tavares called upon superior standup and bulletproof takedown
defense in a unanimous decision over onetime Resurrection Fighting
Alliance champion Gerald
Meerschaert in a three-round middleweight feature. All three
cageside judges scored it the same: 29-28 for Tavares (21-10, 16-10
UFC), who bounced back from consecutive losses to Gregory
Rodrigues and Jun Yong
Park.
Trapped on the feet with the cagy and experienced Hawaiian,
Meerschaert (37-19, 12-11 UFC) had little recourse available to
him. Tavares blasted him with an effective jab, clean one-twos and
occasional body kicks. “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 11
semifinalist appeared to stagger Meerschaert with a chopping right
hand in the second round, where he continued to pad his lead. “GM3”
responded late, closed the distance and lured Tavares into the
clinch for much of the final five minutes, but the finish he needed
was nowhere in sight.
Tavares now has 16 wins as a UFC middleweight, tying him with
Michael
Bisping for most on the promotion’s all-time list at 185
pounds.
Not to be overshadowed, Ode
Osbourne wiped out former Fury Fighting Championship
titleholder Luis Gurule
with punches in the second round of their flyweight attraction.
Osbourne (13-8, 5-6 UFC) drew the curtain 1:54 into Round 2,
posting his first victory in over two years.
Gurule (10-1, 0-1 UFC) executed a slam takedown in the first round,
briefly progressed to full mount and threw his ground-and-pound
into gear. Osbourne stayed composed under duress before escaping to
his feet in the closing seconds. He let his hands work in the
middle stanza, where he zapped Gurule with a surgical left cross
and pounced with follow-up punches to prompt the stoppage.
The win snapped a three-fight losing streak for Osbourne.
Finally, three-time Dana White’s Contender Series alum Torrez
Finney kept his perfect professional record intact and wrestled
his way to a split decision over Robert
Valentin in a three-round middleweight appetizer. Judges Ben
Cartlidge and Junichiro Kamijo saw it 29-28 for Finney, while Tony
Weeks cast a puzzling 30-27 score for Valentin.
Finney (11-0, 1-0 UFC) leaned almost exclusively on takedowns
through two rounds, driving his opponent to the canvas repeatedly
without doing much else. From there, the action stalled. Valentin
(10-5, 0-2 UFC) snuck in a few elbows and punches while he was
upright but conceded one takedown after another to the Agoge
Combatives prospect, as onlookers suffered through a slog of an
encounter. Finney ran out of gas in the third round—referee Mike
Beltran restarted them on three different occasions—but the
5-foot-7, 185-pound powerhouse had done enough by then to exit the
cage with his arm raised.
Valentin has lost back-to-back bouts for the second time in his
15-fight career.
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