A
Ultimate Fighting Championship scrap once expected to go down
in February will now play out this October.
At UFC Fight Night 236 in February, Lerone
Murphy (14-0-1) was booked against Dan Ige (18-8)
in a high-stakes featherweight showdown. Murphy ultimately suffered
an injury and was replaced by Andre Fili.
After both men faced other opponents this year, the company has
decided to put this bout back together. Per
MMA Fighting on Thursday, Murphy and Ige will square off at
UFC
308. The two will handle their business on Oct. 26 at the
Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and their
collision has been confirmed by
other outlets.
Britain’s Murphy has yet to taste defeat as a professional, and
currently brings a six-fight win streak’s worth of momentum into
this clash. In May, Murphy staged a breakout performance by
outworking Edson
Barboza across five rounds in their UFC Fight Night 241
headliner. Before then, Murphy had gradually worked his way up the
leaderboard, outpointing names like Douglas
Silva de Andrade and Joshua
Culibao while blasting Ricardo
Ramos and Makwan
Amirkhani with strikes.
Ige made a statement in June, stepping up on fight day to face
Diego
Lopes at an unexpected 165-pound catchweight contest. Ige fell
short to the surging Lopes on the scorecards, although all three
judges awarded the third round to the extremely late replacement.
As a result, Ige claimed the top spot for the shortest notice of
any competitor to step into a new fight in the modern era of the
UFC. Recent victories for the Hawaiian include knockouts of
Damon
Jackson and Fili.
UFC 308 will be held at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 26,
and the headliner is not official. Ilia
Topuria will defend his featherweight strap against Max
Holloway, but that bout is not expected to serve as the main
attraction. Other pairings on the lineup include a heavyweight
rematch between Ciryl Gane
and Alexander
Volkov as well as a welterweight encounter between Rinat
Fakhretdinov and Nursulton
Ruziboev.