Gabriel Benitez will be taking on an undefeated fighter in his next UFC bout.
The Mexican fighter has been booked against Lerone Murphy for UFC on ESPN+ 29 in London. The takes place March 21 at The O2 and streams on ESPN+.
The featherweight matchup first was reported by Express on Monday and later confirmed by MMA Junkie. The UFC subsequently made the bout official.
Benitez (21-7 MMA, 5-3 UFC) most recently competed in August, when he suffered a TKO loss to rising contender Sodiq Yusuff. The loss to Yusuff snapped a two-fight winning streak for “The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America” alum. Benitez, 31, trains at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif.
The U.K.-based Murphy (8-0-1 MMA, 0-0-1 UFC) most recently was seen in action in September, when he fought to a draw with Zubaira Tukhugov at UFC 242. The bout with Tukhugov marked his promotional debut.
With the addition, the UFC on ESPN+ 29 card now includes:
- Tyron Woodley vs. Leon Edwards
- John Phillips vs. Dusko Todorovic
- Darren Stewart vs. Marvin Vettori
- Tom Aspinall vs. Raphael Pessoa
- Ashlee Evans-Smith vs. Molly McCann
- Nicolas Dalby vs. Danny Roberts
- Paul Craig vs. Ryan Spann
- Marc Diakiese vs. Stevie Ray
- Gabriel Benitez vs. Lerone Murphy
