Lerone Murphy’s life has been a rollercoaster, even before his UFC career took off, and now his journey has taken a new twist following his defeat to Movsar Evloev at UFC London.
The featherweight division has seen Alexander Volkanovski reign at the summit for several years now – barring a small blip from Ilia Topuria – and many people believed that Manchester’s own Murphy was the man to deliver the final nail in his historic run.
Murphy doesn’t need a ‘Miracle’ to get back to UFC title contention
But despite a relatively good performance in the UFC London main event, and Evloev having a point deducted for two low blows, ‘The Miracle’ fell to a majority decision (48-46 x2, 47-47) on the scorecards, surely setting the Russian up for the next shot at the title.
So, where does that leave Murphy for the rest of 2026? And how does he get back into title contention, having fallen at the last hurdle?
Losing his undefeated record will sting, but Murphy is still, without a doubt, one of the best fighters in the featherweight division.
He will now need victories to get back into contention; however, the UFC is clearly not in a rush to give him a title shot. The best way to do that? Make yourself undeniable with wins over top contenders.
With Evloev surely next in line, the man waiting in the wings is Jean Silva.
Jean Silva unlikely to accept Murphy fight as he chases gold
The terrifying Brazilian bounced back from a knockout defeat against Diego Lopes by claiming a win against Arnold Allen in his last outing, and his exciting style has got plenty of fans calling for him to get the nod. ‘Lord’ has also alleged he’d be signing the contract to fight Volkanovski during the UFC London main event.
It may be difficult to get him to commit to the fight against someone as dangerous as Murphy, while he is in prime position for a title shot, but if he is as game as he makes out to be, then it could be the perfect fight for the Brit to sign up for and put himself back in the mix.
Stylistically, though, it could be great. Murphy is a strong counter-striker with good wrestling skills, and Silva is a powerful striker who can also use his jiu-jitsu, making for a thrilling contest.
But there is a more realistic option, and it may be an even better route for ‘The Miracle’ to get back to title contention.
Diego Lopes recently lost his second consecutive world championship fight against Volkanovski, having claimed his rematch by defeating Jean Silva.
But after Murphy’s fight against Evloev and Lopes’ loss to Volk, both men will be hungry to return to the win column, and they’re already exchanging trash talk online to set up a potential bout later this year.
Murphy vs Lopes is the perfect fight to make
When you have two fighters at the top of the rankings who are willing to fight each other and are both in title contention, then you simply have to make the fight.
You rarely get to a situation where they’ve never fought each other and are both coming off a loss at the same time, too, so the UFC has the perfect gateway to make this fight happen.
Below them, you have Aljamain Sterling and Yair Rodriguez, who are both coming off wins, and they could match up with each other, too, to allow for this fight to take place.
In a period where the UFC is seriously lacking star power and the big events are struggling to attract casual fans, this is a bout that ticks all the boxes, and a win for Murphy immediately gets him back where he wants to be.
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