Lerone Murphy Blames Weight Cuts for Decline in Knockout Power

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By virtually any measure, Lerone Murphy has enjoyed a successful Ultimate Fighting Championship career to this point.

After battling Zubaira Tukhugov to a draw in his Octagon debut, “The Iceman” has been victorious in eight consecutive promotional appearances. However, Murphy’s last five victories have gone the distance, and while some of that can be attributed to the level of competition he has faced, he believes there’s another factor in play.

“Not knocking people out can be down to a number of things,” Murphy recently told Card Player. “The level of the opponent has gone up massively. I think weight cuts cause me to lose my power. I lose my power and obviously as you get older the weight cuts get harder. So it's probably depleting yourself more. I think that's a big reason for it. But I am trying to round out my game. Before I was a dominant striker, and I never really trained much for wrestling.”

The 34-year-old Englishman plans to reverse that trend in the UFC 319 co-main event on Saturday, when he faces former Bellator MMA standout Aaron Pico at the United Center in Chicago. Pico began his MMA career as one of the most highly-touted prospects in recent memory, and though things didn’t began as planned at first, he has nonetheless emerged as an intriguing talent over the years. Pico has won nine of his last 10 outings heading into his UFC debut.

“I think it's probably the toughest matchup I've had so far in my career stylistically and it's going to be a great fight, man,” Murphy said. “But I think I can find holes, and I believe I'm going to come out victorious. I want to go out there and make a big statement. And I want to finish him.”

Murphy Expected to Be Booked Against Fellow Englishman

Murphy’s ledger already includes notable victories over the likes of Josh Emmett, Dan Ige and Edson Barboza, and if he can add Pico to that list, it could bring him closer to a featherweight title shot. That is the ultimate goal for Murphy, who didn’t initially expect that Pico would be his next opponent.

“I'm looking at anything to get to the title. I'll fight anybody to get to [Alexander Volkanovski],” he said. “Obviously there's other options and probably better fights to take to get me there.

“I did think I would've been fighting Arnold Allen now, to be honest. When I was looking at the division and everybody's injured or matched up, Arnold Allen was the only one. So I did think I would’ve been fighting him, but if the UFC wants it and he wants to, we can do it in the UK. I don't think it's going to happen for now.” 

Perhaps bolstered by the hype as a high-profile free agent signing, Pico has been tabbed as a slight betting favorite, according to the majority of online oddsmakers. That’s just fine with Murphy.

“I prefer to be an underdog, to be honest,” he said. “With pressure you don't perform as well, I believe. When I go in there and I just think it is what it is, I'm a fighter anyway. I'm going to be focused on that night and put the pressure on. I believe I do my best work with no pressure, which might be strange to some. Some people perform under pressure, but I think I do my best work [when I’m relaxed]. I'm less hesitant and I let it all go, and that's what you're going to see.”