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Two Straws on Fightpass! Lerone Murphy interview
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Nov 6, 2024
Joining us this episode is undefeated #14 featherweight and all round English gentleman, Lerone Murphy! We talk about the injury that took him out of the Dan Ige fight and what rehab is going to look like; crazy origin stories; meeting him at Alliance back in 2015; his future goals and more! Brought to you by Duelbits. Full episodes of Two Straws available exclusively on UFC Fight Pass!
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0:00
[Music]
0:09
what's up everyone this is another
0:11
episode of two straws two straws I don't
0:15
know which way it is it's okay I think
0:17
this works uh we have a really exciting
0:19
guest today we have Lon Murphy who is an
0:22
undefeated featherweight Prospect in the
0:24
UFC and he's here to talk to us about
0:27
what's going on uh we'll let him in the
0:29
studio right
0:32
now yo yo hey Lon thanks for joining us
0:38
thank you for having me how are you good
0:41
can you your camera a little bit turn it
0:45
just a tiny there we go we made your see
0:48
like the whole year
0:52
yeah so thank you so much for joining us
0:55
um I know that you had a fight coming up
0:58
you were going to have your uh big debut
1:00
against Dan eay um as the co-main event
1:04
on a UFC fight night and we just got
1:07
word that you had to pull out due to
1:08
injury what's going
1:09
on yeah so um I just got back from
1:12
Thailand I've done like half my training
1:15
camp there uh I got back and then I was
1:17
in a wrestling practice and I popped my
1:19
shoulder
1:21
out um it's not it's not too serious but
1:24
I couldn't train for like six weeks six
1:26
weeks rehab so the fight is in like 3
1:29
weeks or something
1:30
so it's not I couldn't I couldn't make
1:32
the fight this time
1:34
around that must have been really
1:37
heartbreaking um I I know how it is when
1:39
you get that big opportunity and then
1:42
it's out of your hands you can't take it
1:44
but how did it feel when you got the
1:46
name in the first place I was excited I
1:49
thought it's a good matchup and big name
1:52
obviously everybody knows him he's had
1:53
he's been in there with the best of the
1:55
best so I thought like a win over him
1:57
was like the start pretty pretty much
1:59
the start of big things for me so pretty
2:03
pissed off that it didn't go to plan but
2:05
I'm sure I'll get another
2:08
opportunity uh what is the rehab going
2:10
to be like for your
2:12
shoulder well they said like six to
2:14
eight weeks but I'm going to fly to the
2:16
states and get the stem
2:18
cells probably in the next week or so
2:21
I'm going to get stem cells and then
2:22
start my rehab but I feel like this
2:25
injury happened two weeks ago and it's
2:26
like it's already much better than it
2:28
was so
2:30
I reckon like four four to six weeks I
2:32
think I'll be
2:33
back understood um when you first found
2:38
out that you were injured and that you
2:40
were going to have to pull out of the
2:41
fight um what kind of emotions were you
2:43
going through and how do you keep
2:45
yourself uh emotionally saying you know
2:47
we all go through injuries as Fighters
2:48
and a lot of people take fights injured
2:51
and um I really respect that you're you
2:53
know putting your health first and
2:54
taking care of yourself so that you you
2:56
know can compete as your best version
2:59
yeah well I have been in the Octagon
3:01
many times injured like I think we all
3:03
we all end up getting there with
3:04
something but with this injury I
3:06
couldn't grapple couldn't couldn't even
3:07
post couldn't do anything couldn't even
3:09
lift my arm at the time um I still
3:11
wanted to fight but management and coach
3:14
said said it's the best best not to
3:16
fight just take take this one out but
3:18
yeah like you said it's heartbreaking um
3:21
as an athlete we've only got like a a
3:22
small window so we want to we want to
3:25
get active and want to get fighting um
3:26
I've already been out for like six
3:28
months already so so yeah it's
3:30
heartbreaking but I'm just keep I'm just
3:32
keeping mentally um strong and stuff
3:35
like that and eating a lot of food but
3:38
I'm just trying to not stay F but it's
3:40
hard it's hard like s about doing
3:44
nothing well um you you fought a lot in
3:48
Abu Dhabi and I think uh just because
3:52
you're coming out py was kind of during
3:54
covid you've been flying a little under
3:56
the radar so it's it's going to be
3:59
exciting once you do get that
4:01
opportunity but um like you said how do
4:03
you keep yourself from trying to rush
4:05
into a bad situation like we all saw TJ
4:08
Dillashaw he had that really bad
4:10
shoulder injury and he kind of felt that
4:13
pressure too like he wasn't going to get
4:14
this opportunity if he waited if he
4:17
allowed himself to get healthy and maybe
4:19
did that have anything to do with you
4:22
making kind of a better decision for
4:25
yourself for me it's just like I feel
4:27
like I've got time um and obviously I've
4:31
got good people around me as well that
4:33
make the decisions for me because as a
4:35
fighter we're we're always going to just
4:37
get in there like it doesn't it doesn't
4:39
really matter to us but that's why it's
4:41
important to have a solid team um to
4:43
make them decisions for you do you know
4:45
what I mean but I feel like my I feel
4:47
like because it's not like a major major
4:49
um injury I feel like hopefully um April
4:53
I can get matched up again with somebody
4:56
in the top 15 so that's what I'm aiming
4:58
for anyway ni I I haven't seen them
5:01
reann nowc an opponent for eay do you
5:03
think that they'll
5:07
F's yeah fine feel now got you that'll
5:11
be an exciting match up as well um so
5:14
you've you've broken into the top 15
5:18
um after you know winning several fights
5:21
in the UFC what kind of path do you see
5:23
and how long do you see it taking you to
5:26
get to where you want to
5:27
go yeah for me activity that's what's
5:30
let me down really I've only had like
5:33
what six fights in I think I've been
5:35
with the UFC four years now so it's not
5:38
it's not a lot and obviously we had the
5:39
co there and every time I get booked to
5:41
fight in the states it gets canceled for
5:43
some reason I've had two
5:45
injuries um a visa
5:48
application did um and what else the
5:51
covid yeah so like three four fights
5:52
have been cancelled so for me it's just
5:55
activity I just need to get like get
5:57
some momentum going I fight like three
6:00
four time three four times in a year and
6:02
I feel like that's when um my career
6:05
will take
6:06
off so we first met you at Alliance but
6:10
who do you train with now I'm at
6:12
Manchester top team this has been my
6:14
original team but like I I do I do try
6:17
like to travel for training get
6:18
different looks work with different
6:20
cultures like take the best bits from
6:22
everywhere how did you get in uh wrapped
6:25
up in Alliance back in the day so I used
6:28
to trat with Brendon I used to train
6:30
with Brendan he knows he knows Dom so I
6:33
ended up coming over in 2015 was the
6:35
first time I think and I would have been
6:37
still I would have still been amateur
6:39
then yeah yeah that so that was when we
6:42
first met when you first came yeah yeah
6:44
yeah yeah yeah yeah I remember I
6:46
remember actually the first time walking
6:48
in Alliance and you was I think you was
6:49
working on your grappling or something I
6:51
think you were just transition from my
6:52
Tha or something yeah I thought I
6:54
remember anyway I can't remember
6:56
probably looked [ __ ] that's why you
6:58
remember
7:01
she need to keep working she need to
7:03
keep working on
7:05
that he's laughing because
7:12
it's I never actually got a chance to
7:15
interact with you very much I'm quite
7:16
introverted and I act kind of like a
7:17
feral Barn cat sometimes so it's like
7:20
very skittish around new
7:22
people so unless somebody's a really
7:24
extroverted personality to like bring
7:26
that out of me it's it's a slow slow
7:29
process yeah I'm the same I'm the same
7:32
I'm very quiet and like introverted as
7:34
well so yeah do you have any oh I'm
7:38
sorry but well I was
7:40
ask do you have any main training
7:43
Partners out at um on a top team that
7:46
you um just is always like I'm always
7:49
training with Jess I'm always training
7:50
with like a handful of girls that are
7:52
just like my goto who who are your
7:55
people that keep you in shape keep you
7:57
in check yeah so this is we' we've got
8:00
we've got a solid team to be fair the
8:02
Gym's pretty busy and but my main
8:04
training partners are Jordan he fights
8:06
at Bellator um he's a he's moved over to
8:09
a organization in Croatia I was a
8:11
champion there um I got some Russian
8:13
kids called Ibrahim I think you you'll
8:15
end up seeing him very soon top prospect
8:18
U we've got a lot of upand comers a lot
8:20
of guys that like six and seven and0 up
8:22
and coming um PF have you seen that
8:25
little ginger kid from pfl that's been
8:27
knocking everybody out no that what size
8:32
he's pretty smart as Banton weight but
8:34
he's been he been like koing everyone
8:36
and he's in our gym as well we got some
8:38
good fires
8:40
okay nice so Lon I've got to ask I've um
8:44
you know done a little looking on the
8:46
internet and what came up is a crazy
8:49
story about you and you've actually been
8:52
shot and I wanted to ask if you would
8:56
share that story with us and if that had
8:57
anything to do with you get getting into
9:00
MMA yeah well it didn't have anything to
9:03
do with me getting in MMA but it surely
9:05
did help me get off that path that I was
9:07
on um so like would have been like 10
9:11
years ago now 2013 I didn't train then
9:14
at all I didn't do any any martial arts
9:16
at all then and I was living a totally
9:18
different life uh from I am now and then
9:21
I ended up getting into some sort of
9:23
drama and then getting shot coming out
9:25
of a
9:26
barers uh so from there it was like
9:29
I I didn't start training straight away
9:31
but I feel like once I started training
9:34
it kind of took my mind away from ER
9:37
thinking about negative stuff and stuff
9:39
like that because as you know when
9:40
you're training hard you don't have the
9:42
time you don't have the energy uh and
9:44
it's like I had something to focus on
9:47
which was which is what I needed at the
9:50
time a how long was it really does it
9:54
does it's crazy um how long was the
9:57
recovery for that because I know I I
9:59
read you still have a little piece in in
10:02
your
10:03
tongue yeah you know what it wasn't it
10:05
wasn't too long it was just I think I
10:08
feel like more it was like more mental
10:10
damage it's like you just like I don't
10:12
know I don't think the the injury was
10:16
well it was but it wasn't like yeah I
10:18
couldn't do anything for AG I think I
10:20
started training like maybe nine months
10:21
after that or something okay so the
10:24
start of 2014 I started training but
10:27
yeah it's just like more for mental
10:28
stuff I didn't I was going to fight or
10:30
anything yeah what did that you
10:33
mentioned mental what exactly did that
10:35
look like like in how did it change
10:38
you the incident or the training well
10:42
the after the incident you said that it
10:44
mentally changed you what was that like
10:46
just it's just more like um can't
10:50
explain it's just like after it happened
10:52
it's like I went I felt like I went into
10:54
like a depressive State like I didn't
10:56
really want to go out didn't really like
10:58
trust people around around me and stuff
10:59
like that
11:01
um yeah and just like bad kind of bad
11:04
thoughts maybe uh but yeah like I said
11:08
doite training like that kind of cleared
11:11
my mind I got like a new set of friends
11:14
Almost uh you know I mean like people
11:16
that are on the same Journey stuff as me
11:18
so it was good it saved me pretty
11:22
much that's awesome that's that's really
11:25
inspiring you know we we every time we
11:27
interview someone there's a story like
11:28
that where MMA saved them in one way or
11:31
another and it's just uh it's it's weird
11:35
how MMA fighters get this stigma that
11:38
we're all uh brutes and we're just
11:41
violent and Knuckleheads and really it's
11:44
like no we would have been worse if we
11:46
didn't have MMA
11:47
MMA took us out of that mindset and if
11:51
you want us to bring it back yeah 100%
11:54
like I know a lot of people like most
11:56
Fighters have been through some sort of
11:58
trauma like in the Life get what I'm
12:00
saying like and that's that's what
12:03
that's why we wired up the way we are
12:04
and I feel like MMA has saved a lot of
12:07
people like give people a platform give
12:09
people a job and uh yeah it's good good
12:12
for the world that's
12:15
great I love hearing that I'm I'm sorry
12:18
that that happened but I'm happy to hear
12:20
that there was a positive coming out of
12:23
it yeah it was a positive actually and
12:26
like like at the time you don't when bad
12:29
happen to you at the time you're like
12:30
why why me but like further down the
12:33
line you see that it it was for a reason
12:35
and it's to Red redirect you um to
12:38
better things so I'm happy it happened
12:42
really I love
12:45
that oh go ahead oh no I was just saying
12:49
I love that sorry we're a little bit
12:52
delayed my it it's raining in San Diego
12:55
for the first time and my power went out
12:57
so I know right
13:00
it's raining you you brought the weather
13:03
with your
13:04
streaming it's actually not raining here
13:06
at the minute it's cold though okay
13:10
where are you guys training
13:12
now um actually we're uh all at uh
13:16
adrianne's gim do you know Adrian
13:19
Melendez over
13:21
here him yeah we're all kind of out
13:25
there right now everyone's just grouped
13:27
together alliances kind of dissipated
13:30
but there's gyms everywhere so the the
13:34
main nugget of the alliance MMA people
13:37
are still there even if there's no like
13:39
actual
13:41
building and everyone's just kind of
13:43
helping each other out right now but um
13:46
I've actually been the Great Britain top
13:48
team before uh oh yeah that's the the
13:52
London the lond Brad Pi yeah I went to
13:55
Brad pickets one before have you ever
13:56
trained out there I've not no because I
13:59
remember I supposed to fight in the I
14:01
was meant to train there but um I was
14:02
going to fight in the F remember
14:04
so oh okay oh yeah yeah did you guys get
14:10
uh any beef on the come up with
14:14
that we've had we've had a few back and
14:16
forths and stuff like that but it's like
14:18
I see I think was on the same card in
14:21
July yeah in July um kind of seeing each
14:24
other there we had a little altercation
14:26
in the hotel and then
14:29
and then after it I think be it might
14:32
have been F day no after the weighs he
14:34
like come over to me and said like oh
14:36
the media's like staring stuff up and
14:38
stuff like that so we just we just kind
14:39
of swashed it but it was it was nothing
14:41
really okay what did you think of uh
14:45
Strickland and dupi squashing their beef
14:48
was it kind of a similar thing you
14:50
think their is deeper than our there was
14:53
like there there was some some bad words
14:57
got said about them ma was just Petty
15:00
bickering online but there is deep so it
15:02
was good to see him bury it though um
15:05
have a fight s it out and that's the
15:07
best way to do it right yeah uh speaking
15:10
of that fight everyone's debating on who
15:12
won did you get to catch it last uh what
15:15
was it like uh last weekend yeah I I
15:18
think Strickland won to be honest it was
15:21
very I could see why judges give it the
15:24
other way but it's it's very close
15:25
fights it's just it's just based on
15:27
perspective and how you score certain
15:30
certain things so yeah it could have
15:32
went either way
15:35
okay so you just mentioned judging what
15:38
do you think would change the the
15:42
pattern of terrible judging
15:45
decisions um do you see a fix to it at
15:48
all I think it's going to be hard to do
15:51
it because like I said it's a it's an
15:53
opinion uh it's it's based on opinion I
15:55
think they would have to do like some
15:57
extensive TR training on like a small
16:00
circuit of Judges so like they're all
16:03
kind of seeing the same thing watch
16:04
fights score fights and then give him
16:06
kind of some coaching I don't know but I
16:09
feel I feel like it'd be hard to
16:11
do yeah it is very objective and it's no
16:15
matter how many times I read the rules
16:17
I'll always score it different from the
16:19
judges and it it's like it's supposed to
16:22
be this thing first and this thing then
16:24
this thing and it never really seems the
16:27
same but then when I look at people who
16:29
I usually agree with sometimes I think a
16:32
different person got the round so it's
16:35
uh it is really tough and maybe everyone
16:38
needs a smart cage like the P the
16:42
computer to do it exactly the same every
16:45
day but even still then it still
16:47
wouldn't be accurate because they're
16:49
counting like little rabbit punches and
16:51
stuff like that how's that how you defer
16:53
that from like bigger shots and stuff
16:55
like that so I think it's it's very hard
16:57
to do in it maybe some AI maybe some AI
17:00
one day will be able to be able to pick
17:02
that up for us AI judges will definitely
17:05
be better than Douglas Crosby that's
17:08
what can't we need to keep getting Kos
17:11
just like Lon we just need to take the
17:13
judges out of it completely I've
17:15
actually got two decisions in a row I
17:17
need a I need a finish I I need a finish
17:21
now so what's your secret to getting
17:24
finishes I I know you just you're a
17:26
little disappointed in yourself but
17:28
you're still undefeated which is amazing
17:31
um but do you have like kind of a secret
17:33
that you feel like really gets you
17:35
closer to getting finishes more than
17:37
other guys in your weight
17:39
class I feel like I've just got very
17:42
good timing over anything timing and a
17:44
good eye for picking up like making
17:46
reads and stuff like that when I go out
17:49
and try and finish that's when I don't
17:50
look the best and it never comes do you
17:53
get what I'm saying so I feel like I
17:54
just got let it flow and just like pick
17:57
make some reads I feel that's why I feel
17:59
like the eay fight would have been a
18:00
good fight for me but oh
18:02
well yeah well if it's not eay is there
18:06
anyone else you got your eyes on who's
18:08
uh
18:08
ranked yeah I just want to fight anybody
18:11
ranked I don't want to I feel like I've
18:13
about six fights now outsid I just want
18:15
to fight anybody that's ranks all
18:16
basically they're probably going to give
18:18
me a Ceres is is there he's not much at
18:22
the minute uh Sadi
18:25
Yousef one of them guys anybody anybody
18:29
I just want to test myself really like
18:31
I'm not really I'm not really bothered
18:32
who I fight at this moment I just want
18:34
to just see how far I can go with
18:36
it sure so you're you know you're young
18:40
in the sport and you're young in the UFC
18:43
you're already ranked do you think about
18:47
the end or do you see do you have a
18:49
timeline do you have anything you want
18:51
to do or are starting to do before you
18:53
retire I know it's a long it's far way
18:56
off yeah you know what like every time I
19:00
put a plan together in my head like I
19:01
want to do this this live just shows me
19:03
that it's not that simple do you get
19:05
what I'm saying like this year I wanted
19:07
to I saying oh I want to have three
19:09
fights or four fights and then I get
19:10
injured so it's like I'm just going with
19:12
the flow and just making sure like
19:15
obviously I have a goal my end goal is
19:17
to obviously be Champion U but I just
19:20
wanted to have fun have as many fights
19:22
as
19:23
possible make some set some businesses
19:26
up and just be financially secure that's
19:28
my goal that's it
19:30
simple what kind of business oh
19:34
[Music]
19:38
Jinx do you know what we've just we just
19:41
set set up like a a natural supplement
19:44
company which will be launching next
19:45
week um I've got part ownership in the
19:49
gym uh and then I just wanted I don't
19:52
know you know I I don't know but I need
19:54
to start thinking I need to start
19:56
thinking multiple it's a good start it's
20:00
a good start yeah yeah and at least
20:01
you're thinking about it need to in this
20:06
game well Jessica's in real estate so ni
20:11
if you need if you need some property
20:13
property property is always a good
20:15
investment as well yeah for
20:17
sure sure do that with everyone else J
20:21
than for the
20:23
plug buy a
20:26
house give her a Miss no oh that's it's
20:30
smart I think a lot of people start
20:32
thinking about that a little too late so
20:35
that that's awesome that you're already
20:36
doing that what kind of supplement um
20:38
supplement company are you working so it
20:41
just be like it just be like natural
20:43
Goods like things that are like so it
20:46
won't be like proteins and stuff like
20:47
that we got like [ __ ] have you heard of
20:50
[ __ ] no not heard of that it's like
20:52
something I love it have you heard yeah
20:55
it's like for a little bit I had a
20:57
sponsorship for it yeah it comes from
20:59
the mountains it's just like minerals
21:01
but it's like in you can have it in like
21:03
liquid form or Tire form and you put in
21:04
your coffee or hot water or something
21:06
like that um so we got that we've got
21:08
like ton Ali got seos uh black seed oil
21:14
just loads of like natural natural um
21:17
you need to get some ashwaganda up in
21:19
the mix too ashwaganda yeah Ash I use as
21:22
Granda but we haven't got that one we
21:24
need to stop that one for sure that's
21:26
good as well write it down
21:31
start sponsoring your your upand
21:33
cominging
21:37
amateurs
21:41
cool all right well we don't want to
21:43
take up too much of your time but thanks
21:45
for talking with us sharing with us uh
21:48
how you're feeling and everything and we
21:51
hope you have that speedy recovery where
21:53
are you going for your stem cell
21:54
treatment just to
21:56
Vegas do you know what I just messaged
21:59
CPI Scotty Nelson at CPI because I did
22:02
go there previously um so I might go to
22:06
The Mex he's in Mexico right I might go
22:08
there CH yeah yeah chip yeah I might go
22:12
there and then do like two weeks at the
22:15
pi and just just to speed up the
22:17
recovery and stuff like that I'm
22:19
planning to do that at the start of
22:20
February so next week maybe two weeks
22:23
okay maybe we'll see you out there yeah
22:26
maybe no you know I'm San Diego for sure
22:28
I'll be in San
22:30
Diego I'll catch you
22:35
nice well thank you so much for your
22:37
time we really appreciate you sharing
22:38
your story and your mindset and we
22:41
really can't wait for you to get healthy
22:42
and uh watching on somebody else out
22:45
again by me all right
22:55
man all right
22:58
man I love hearing stories about how MMA
23:02
just um it changes people's lives I I
23:05
know it did for me you know I was on a
23:08
kind of a troubled path and I love
23:10
hearing that um it's so therapeutic and
23:13
it um one thing about MMA to is um like
23:17
Lon was saying when you go into the gym
23:18
you just have kind of like this um this
23:21
already connection because everybody's
23:22
there for the same purpose and wanting
23:24
to learn and grow and it just creates
23:25
this beautiful Bond and family type
23:28
atmosphere it's a great support system
23:30
it is I mean like I I I feel like I
23:32
don't have any like crazy story but I
23:35
just had no confidence before I started
23:37
training and then it just like made me
23:40
feel so much more comfortable in my own
23:42
skin that I like felt more like I could
23:44
handle any situation and it was really
23:47
great just being being able to find that
23:50
kind of on an accident and just falling
23:52
into that world of training and becoming
23:55
a better version of yourself so that's
23:57
really cool to here I'm glad he's not
23:58
too hurt he'll be back soon enough and
24:01
hey maybe we'll get a visit in
24:04
February I know we got to stop him on
24:06
his way to chipsa I mean you have to you
24:08
literally have to pass by us to get
24:10
there so it do it would only be right it
24:12
would only be right yes we yank him yank
24:17
him over and hang out for a
24:21
sec all right guys well this has been
24:23
another episode of two straws thank you
24:25
so much for joining us
24:28
and we will see you next
24:30
[Music]
24:36
time
#Boxing
#Injury
#Martial Arts
#Wrestling