Lerone Murphy claims the “vibe was a bit dead” for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Manchester this past July.
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.”
