Lerone Murphy is one of the hottest featherweights on the UFC roster, and he might already have his next opponent lined up – if he wants it.
The undefeated Murphy improved to 5-0-1 inside the octagon this past Saturday at UFC London with a unanimous decision win over Josh Culibao. Though he remains unranked in the deep 145-pound division, Murphy appears is on the cusp of a top-15 spot, and the right matchup could propel him up the charts.
Fellow Englishman Nathaniel Wood was also victorious in London, and the time could be right for Murphy and Wood to face off after previously being scheduled for a fight this past March. Murphy didn’t have much to say about Wood following the event, but during an appearance on The MMA Hour he addressed their fight week confrontation.
“As you might have seen, we had a bit of a back-and-forth over Twitter and Instagram because we were supposed to fight, he pulled out, he started tweeting, I started responding and we just went back and forth,” Murphy said. “Obviously, I’ve seen him in the hotel and for me, it’s like, everyone sees life as two different worlds, like this internet world and then the real world. Then people talk s*** on the internet and walk past you in real life. Like, come on, bro. They’re both combined in some ways, you know what I’m saying? When I saw him, I just thought I had to say something. I asked him what he’s saying and what not and then we just had a little argument, nothing too deep, and then that was it.
“At the weigh-in he come up to me and said, ‘The media’s trying to twist it,’ whatever, whatever. It’s just nothing. It’s not as deep as people are going on. It’s just some internet stuff. Like I said, anyone in the division is food to me. I’ll fight anyone of them, they can all get it.”
Murphy is “100 percent” confident that Wood wouldn’t have said anything to him if they passed by each other, so he took it upon himself to make sure that Wood knew where they stand. Still, he insisted that there’s no major beef between the two of them.
“It doesn’t bother me because I know what people are like in this day and age,” Murphy said. “I know everyone’s got a different persona online, so it doesn’t bother me like that, but I’m not going to talk s*** online and then walk past you in real life.”
According to Murphy, he and Wood were previously amicable and it wasn’t until they were scheduled to fight at UFC 286 that their signals became crossed. Both are surging contenders in the featherweight division, with Murphy having won five straight since debuting with a draw against Zubaira Tukhugov, and Wood having gone 3-0 since making the move up from 135 pounds.
Murphy blames Wood’s unexpected change in behavior after withdrawing from their fight as the genesis of their feud.
“Listen, I know the MMA game and I know that people get injured,” Murphy said. “It’s part of the game, people get injured. It’s that he started coming out saying, ‘I would have put on a masterclass’ on Instagram when he pulled out, that’s not my issue, I just responded to that saying, ‘Come on bro.’ We’ve always messaged each other, we’ve always been cool before this fight was made, so for me it’s like, have some respect. If you pull out, just stay quiet, and then after I fight, maybe you can say, ‘I feel like I would have done this, I would have done that.’ Just let me do my camp and stay quiet, have some respect, and that was my issue really.
“Then he started talking about how we have mutual friends and my mutual friends feel like he would beat me and whatnot. I’m saying, ‘There’s nobody that would tell you that. You’re deluded because everyone I spoke to thinks I would smoke you quite easily.’”
Murphy’s fight took place before Wood’s on the UFC London main card, so he didn’t have much of a chance to watch his rival before exiting the O2. But from what he saw, he was impressed with how Wood fought through adversity against the more experienced Andre Fili. Wood went on to win a unanimous decision.
As much as it makes sense for Murphy to fight Wood from a promotional standpoint, he’s focused on booking a ranked opponent next. Even though he knows there’s unfinished business with “The Prospect.”
“I’ve won five straight and one draw,” Murphy said. “Six fights in the UFC. I’m 13-0 now, they have to give me top-15 now, they have to. They have to. I’m not taking anybody else other than top-15.”
“I probably would, I’m lying,” Murphy added. “Only him. I feel like as a fighter we’ve talked s***—I’ve got no problem with him, I’ve got no beef with him like that, but because as a competitor we’ve gone back and forth, he still thinks he’s better than me. I believe I’m better than him. We can settle it one day. We will settle it one day, I think.”
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