Lerone Murphy's gradual climb up the featherweight rankings continued Saturday as the English contender outpointed Josh Emmett to win a somewhat uneventful unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Vegas 105 at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. With his eighth straight win, Manchester's Murphy moves into a tie with Movsar Evloev for the longest active UFC win streak in the featherweight division.
Afterward, Murphy acknowledged the tepid nature of his performance then called for a chance to fight one of the UFC's top-ranked featherweights and finally graduate into title contention after a six-year promotional run.
"It was alright. I had to fight a certain fight. Hey, 16-0, 16-0! What? What? Easy work, easy work!" Murphy shouted post-fight to a booing crowd. "Listen, I just had to fight my game. He's a dangerous fighter, everybody knows he's got one-punch knockout power. You have to fight a certain fight, simple as that, [against that] top level, I couldn't make any mistakes. ...
"Obviously I want a title, but give me anybody in that top five [next], top three even. Give me one of them guys, I'll fight again in July. Let's go, man. I just want to keep this train going. I want to get to the championship, I want to stay active, another two fights this year."
Murphy (16-0-1) showcased a patient and disciplined game plan against his hard-hitting foe, utilizing stellar footwork and speed in a matchup of volume versus power. Murphy opened up a cut on Emmett's forehead early with a standing elbow and peppered the 40-year-old contender with a varied striking attack, more than doubling Emmett in total strikes (117-44) while keeping Emmett guessing whether Murphy was going to target the head (44%), body (20%) or legs (35%) of the Team Alpha Male veteran.
Emmett (19-5) secured takedowns in each of the first three rounds but failed to keep Murphy controlled for any meaningful stretch of time or mount any impactful offense on the ground. The majority of Emmett's time was otherwise spent unsuccessfully loading up with big power punches that failed to find a home on the 33-year-old Englishman.
With Saturday's loss, Emmett has now dropped three of his past four UFC bouts.
In the night's co-main event, Pat Sabatini (20-5) dominated Joanderson Brito (17-5-1) — including a pair of 10-8 scorecards for his work in the second and third rounds — to win a one-sided unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27). Sabatini has now won seven of his nine UFC appearances, while Brito loses his second straight bout after rattling off a five-fight Octagon win streak.
Catch full UFC Vegas 105 results and highlights below.
Main card
Lerone Murphy def. Josh Emmett via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)
Pat Sabatini def. Joanderson Brito via unanimous decision ...
