Lerone Murphy wants Brian Ortega after 'masterful' UFC on ESPN 65 main event performance

USA Today

06-04-2025

LAS VEGAS – Lerone Murphy is ready for the next step toward a UFC featherweight championship opportunity and has former title challenger Brian Ortega in his sights.
Murphy (16-0-1 MMA, 8-0-1 UFC) won his second UFC main event by winning a clear unanimous decision over Josh Emmett at the UFC Apex. According to one official judge, Emmett (19-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) only won one round, while the other judges found two rounds to score in his favor.
Manchester's Murphy was happy with the performance and thought he clearly won four rounds in the fight behind a solid stick-and-move approach.
'That was the exact gameplan, what you saw there: pick him off at range, catch him on the way in,' Murphy told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference. 'Obviously, I wanted the finish – finishes are just not coming at the minute, but masterful performance anyway. We're just chasing them finishes, chasing them wins, racking up them wins, and aiming for that title.'
Still undefeated with eight UFC victories and two main events under to his credit, 'The Miracle' Murphy is forging a path toward a featherweight title shot. If he gets his wish, his next opponent will be Ortega (16-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC), who currrently sits at No. 6 in the promotion's 145-pound rankings.
'Just a fight I've been looking at for a while, and obviously, you see Diego Lopes go on to get a title shot after beating him, so I want to take a similar route,' Murphy said. 'I fought Dan Ige, same as Lopes too, so yeah man, give me one of them guys.'
One of the big criticisms hovering around Murphy at the moment is that he hasn't finished an opponent since 2021 when he knocked out Makwan Amirkhani at UFC 267. Since, he's recorded five consecutive decisions, although to his credit, the level of competition has steadily increased. With Ortega, he feels that matchup will produce the stoppage fans want to see.
'I finish him,' Murphy said. 'That simple, I finish him. I get better with every fight, I get more expereience and I get more confident.'
The vacant featherweight title will be up for grabs at the upcoming UFC 314 pay-per-view in Miami. The aforementioned Lopes gets his first opportunity to fight for gold when he takes on former champion Alexander Volkanovski. Murphy appears to know he has more work to do in order to get a shot at the winner, but is happy the result against Emmett puts him one step closer.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie's event hub for UFC on ESPN 65.