Keep an eye on Ricardo Ramos, the intelligentsia said going into UFC on ESPN 13. That guy’s an up and comer in the UFC featherweight division.
If Lerone Murphy was apprised of this information, he clearly rejected it.
The Manchester, England, competitor nicknamed “The Miracle” scored the biggest victory of his career Wednesday with a first-round finish of the much-heralded Ramos (14-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC). It took just 4:18 for Murphy (9-0-1 MMA, 1-0-1 UFC) to earn a TKO stoppage at the Flash Forum at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
After an evenly contested start, Murphy ducked a Ramos attempt at a spinning back elbow and turned it into a takedown. And while Ramos’ ground game is his strength, Murphy wasn’t fazed. A big elbow after they hit the mat might have momentarily put Ramos out, with the next shot bringing him back.
Either way, Murphy kept pouring it on until the fight was waved off, keeping him undefeated in the UFC at 1-0-1.
“If it goes to the ground, it goes for the ground,” Murphy said in his post-fight interview. “I knew when I got the first elbows that I’d stop him. I just knew to keep punching, keep punching. The power in that right hand was a sledge.”
The victory marked Murphy’s sixth career first-round stoppage. You can check out his handiwork below.
The featherweight bout was on the undercard of UFC on ESPN 13 at Flash Forum at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. It aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.
