Lerone
Murphy claims the “vibe was a bit dead” for the
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Manchester this past
July.
Advertisement
UFC
304 marked the promotion’s return to Manchester for the first
time since 2016. However, the card was scheduled for the usual
timie for U.S. viewers, which meant the main card started around 3
a.m. local time in Manchester.
While Murphy would have loved to fight on home soil as well, the
Stockport, England, native was put off by the timing. While in
attendance, “The Iceman” was dozing off and could sense a dead vibe
at the Co-op Live Arena overall. According to Murphy, the crowd
livened up briefly for appearances of stars like Paddy
Pimblett, Tom
Aspinall and Leon
Edwards but was mellow overall. Murphy suggests the promotion
instead organize UFC Fight Nights, which can be scheduled as per
local time but also understands that people want big pay-per-views
featuring championship bouts.
“It was good, it was good to watch. I actually liked watching it,”
he told Title Sports Network. “Obviously, I wanted to
fight there, but then that timing was a bit mad. I was falling
asleep. I was watching the fights and it was like 4 [a.m.] and I
was like, ‘Wow this needs to hurry up.’ And I feel like the vibe
was a bit dead… Obviously when Paddy come out, it livened up, and
[Tom] Aspinall and ‘Rocky’ [Leon
Edwards] and that but over the night it was kind of quiet… Just
do Fight Nights where you can do UK time, but obviously people want
to see the champs as well.”
Murphy is scheduled to fight Dan Ige at
UFC
308 on Oct. 26 at the Eithad Arena in Abu Dhabi. While he’ll be
content with just a win, the undefeated featherweight is eyeing a
stoppage win over “50K”, who has never been finished before in his
entire career.
“I’d love to finish him,” Murphy said. “Because nobody’s finished
him and he’s fought the best of the best in the world. Obviously I
want to finish him. Just getting that ‘W’ will be enough for me,
but I want to finish the fight.”
UFC 308 will also feature featherweight champ Ilia
Topuria putting his strap on the line against former champ
Max
Holloway in the headliner. Murphy predicts “Blessed” will
overwhelm the Spaniard with volume to pull off an upset win.
“I think Holloway is gonna win, you know,” he siad. “I think
Holloway just lights him up. He can [knock Topuria out]. It’s think
it’s just gonna be too much for [Topuria], just too much output.”