After contrasting victories over Billy Quarantillo and Sodiq Yusuff in 2023, long-standing contender Edson Barboza – both at feather and lightweight – prepares to defend his top-15 ranking at 145lbs against a surging unbeaten hopeful in Lerone Murphy to headline UFC Vegas 92 this weekend. Will he make it three in a row for the first time since 2017, or will the Brit pass his toughest career test?
Barboza: Murphy deserves main event slot, expects war
Edson Barboza [12] vs. Lerone Murphy at featherweight
UFC Vegas 92 main event – Murphy headlining a card for first time
Main card starts at midnight BST, main event ringwalks after 2am BST
- Stark contrast: Saturday represents Barboza’s 30th UFC appearance (18-11, 9 KOs and 9 decision wins) – meanwhile Manchester’s Murphy will make his seventh walk to the Octagon against his first ranked opponent
- The bottom-half of featherweight’s top-15 rankings remains open to fluctuation, featuring Calvin Kattar and Bryce Mitchell among others
- #14-ranked contender Diego Lopes perhaps an exception to the rule, with ever-growing star potential exemplified by R1 TKO win over Sodiq Yusuff on UFC 300 prelims to finish a whirlwind debut year with the promotion
EDSON BARBOZA knows the score, he’s been here before. This weekend’s UFC headliner is another case of veteran vs. vicious upstart, one keen to maintain his place while the other looks to catapult into new heights with a career-best scalp.
Lerone Murphy would’ve had this shot three months earlier, but an undisclosed injury saw him withdraw from a scheduled bout against long-time contender Dan Ige [13] and the 32-year-old blasted past Andre Fili on short-notice inside a round.
At the media day midweek, the 38-year-old Brazilian accepted as much.
“He’s a really good fighter, has six UFC fights but showed that he’s one of the best – of course they don’t give him a chance to fight in the main event because he’s a nice guy, he deserves it.
It’s going to be a war, like always. Everybody knows every time I step in the Octagon, I’m ready for war, and Saturday is not going to be different.”
You’d imagine that Murphy, 33 in July, would’ve liked to feature on Manchester’s UFC 304 card in a perfect world after beating Ige to seize his top-15 ranking.
Now though, he faces an even bigger challenge against Barboza, who holds the record for most Fight of the Night bonuses in promotional history (9).
He rallied from a precarious first-round flurry to skilfully outpoint Sodiq Yusuff [15] last time out, where it felt like the company’s old guard were overlooked before they had a chance to display the importance of experience in high-stakes matchups.
Barboza’s resume speaks for itself, with five former champions or interim titlists on his record – as well as many high-ranked contenders – since December 2015. Murphy only made his professional MMA debut three months later in March 2016.
Although the setback stopped him from training, he’s back fit and as far as Murphy’s concerned, the roadwork is banked. We’ll soon find out whether the Mancunian is truly ready for that step-up, declaring this five-round main event a fraud check.
During an interview with Hyon Ko, he said this booking is the UFC’s way of testing whether he deserves to be propped up as a genuine future title contender at 145lbs.
“We’ve done some good training to push that, to get through the mental battles and going into the fourth and fifth, that’s when you really see what you’re made of, that’s why they put young prospects like me into a five-round fight – because if it’s three rounds, totally different.
“Am I championship calibre? Let’s see it, I feel like that’s why they made it five rounds, because otherwise, they would have put it on the Brazil [UFC 301] or Manchester [UFC 304] card as a three-rounder, it’s a fraud check.”
Khaos, Yanez return aiming for statement displays
Having lost consecutive fights for the first time as a pro, Adrian Yanez needs a reset and gets that against Vinicius Salvador this weekend.
Rob Font humbled him inside a round at UFC 287, before Jonathan Martinez defended his top-15 ranking against the 30-year-old with another stoppage – this time it came midway through round two on the Yusuff-Barboza bill last October.
He was in reflective mood on media day, saying:
“I think it’s a fantastic matchup for me. All I’ve got to do is keep my base, stay technical, tactful and just making sure that I make it a beautiful disaster for him – make sure I hit him and he feels it.
“I can’t get away from my base because I did one too many times, I’ve worked on that this whole camp – making sure I’ve got my base. The way I look at this fight is as long as I stay tight and clean, should be an easy dub [win],” so will those comments age well or poorly? We’ll see.
Heavy-handed welterweight hopeful Khaos Williams meanwhile has alternated split decisions in his last two fights – losing to Randy Brown, then edging beyond Rolando Bedoya – and had this to say before his return after another year-long layoff:
“I’m ready to go 15 minutes, but all my fights, I don’t see none going the distance. I just feel like whoever is in-front of me, the guy isn’t going to last. All it takes is one shot if you make a mistake, whether I submit him, test that chin out and take his soul from his body.”
Full card, is as follows
Main card
Featherweight main event: Edson Barboza [12] vs. Lerone Murphy
Welterweight: Khaos Williams vs. Carlston Harris
Welter: Themba Gorimbo vs. Ramiz Brahimaj
Bantamweight: Adrian Yanez vs. Vinicius Salvador
Women’s strawweight: Luana Pinheiro vs. Angela Hill [12]
Prelims
Lightweight: Victor Martinez vs. Tom Nolan
Light-heavyweight: Oumar Sy vs. Tuco Tokkos
Women’s bantamweight: Tamires Vidal vs. Melissa Gatto
Middleweight: Abus Magomedov vs. Warlley Alves
Women’s strawweight: Piera Rodriguez vs. Ariane Carnelossi
Flyweight: Alateng Heili vs. Kleydson Rodrigues
Women’s strawweight: Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Emily Ducote
Picture source: Getty Images
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