In 2013, Lerone Murphy was shot twice in the face outside a barber shop in his hometown of Manchester. He survived.
Recovery was long and the Englishman admits to suffering in those dark times. It also helped him to appreciate that better times were ahead, and that he had to meet challenges face on.
It’s a mentality that has served him well in his career as a mixed martial artist. Murphy, 33, is undefeated in 15 fights (winning 14, drawing one) and is on the back of six wins in a row in the UFC.
“I just believe that has just kind of shown me that you can go to the darkest places in this world and you can be down and out, and still get back up and change your life and do better things,” Murphy told The National as he recalled that fateful day 11 years ago.
“Every dark night has a bright day after that. That's kind of what I live by. Like, it's never the end, and you can always pick yourself back up."
Murphy is reluctant to elaborate further. Instead of reliving a dark past, his focus is now on a bright future, one pointed to UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi on October 26 when takes on the talented American Dan Ige.
He has fond memories of the UAE, vanquishing three of his opponents on his rise to the No 12-ranked featherweight in MMA's lead promotion.
“Abu Dhabi is an excellent place – I love Abu Dhabi. It makes me happy. It’s been a while since my last fight in Abu Dhabi [a second-round KO of Makwan Amirkhani], and as soon as the card got announced and when I was asked to be on it, I have been looking forward to coming back for sure,” Murphy said.
Murphy hopes victory over Ige at UFC 308, where featherweight champion Ilia Topuria defends his belt against Max Holloway, a former champion of the 145-pound division himself, in the main event will pave the way to a crack at an opponent ranked in the top five and, eventually, a title shot.
“I'm not looking past Dan Ige. It's a tough fight and I know what's in front of me. It would be wrong for me to look past him, he's a very dangerous guy,” Murphy said of his opponent, who boasts a record of 18 wins and eight losses.
“I would like to take all of them, every single one of them, but I’m not looking past Dan. But with a win over him, I feel like I definitely deserve a top-five opponent. One hundred per cent.
“I'll be 15 and 0 and seven from seven wins in the UFC. So, I've seen people get title shots off that and you definitely got to give me a top-five opponent.”
Murphy has been preparing by bringing a young Dagestani fighter in for this training camp who, he says, has a similar style to Ige.
“My training camp's been amazing actually, I've got some good work in. I'm training with a young Dagestani Russian kid who is exactly like Dan Ige. So I'm getting some good looks and my wrestling has improved massively,” Murphy said.
“I feel like I'm a complete fighter now so I'm looking forward to this challenge. I think Ige, everybody knows is a power puncher and he can wrestle so that's his strengths.
“I'm looking to obviously turn his strengths into weaknesses. I've watched a lot of Ige, I've been watching him for years now so I know his game inside out. But it's all about who executes the game plan the best on the night.
“I'm sure he knows my weaknesses and strengths so he will be training for that also. I'm looking forward to the fight, it's gonna be a good fight.”
Murphy comes into the contest on the back of a dominant victory over the veteran Edson Barbosa in May, his sixth in a row after his debut draw in the UFC in 2019.
“I believe it's given me confidence. A lot of people are saying ‘Oh, it looked amazing’ and so on,” he said of the unanimous decision over the Brazilian.
“I didn't feel like that was my best but I still got better to show. I believe that's given me confidence. I feel like I won every round and I feel like I've improved massively since then anyway so I'm even better than I was in May.
“I have to keep working. I train hard every day. I push myself to the limits every day to reach my goal. I want to be the UFC champion,” he said.
As a boy, Murphy was an aspiring footballer, and even had trials at some of England's top clubs as a junior. He took up martial arts in his twenties, and has no regrets about the path his life has taken since.
“I started training for martial arts at 22 years old, which is very old. Not very old, but a lot of people start younger than that, so you're pretty late on in life anyway,” he said.
“I used to watch MMA anyway. I loved watching the sport, and then I just started training in it just for fun. And one thing led to the next, I had my first amateur fight and then from then I just knew that's what I wanted to do,” he said.
It was after his second fight as an amateur Murphy decided to pursue MMA as a career.
“I had a good fight, a very good fight with an experienced guy and then everybody around me was telling I had the stuff in me to take up MMA full time,” he said.
“I loved the respect I got from that and then I went to America and trained with some UFC guys there. This is when I was amateur and I've done well with them. So, from then I kind of knew that with a few years of experience I can make it to the UFC.”
Murphy ended the interview with a message for UAE fight fans: “Make sure you tune in to 308. It's going to be fireworks."
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV
Power: 360bhp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh282,870
On sale: now
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.
The Facility’s Versatility
Between the start of the 2020 IPL on September 20, and the end of the Pakistan Super League this coming Thursday, the Zayed Cricket Stadium has had an unprecedented amount of traffic.
Never before has a ground in this country – or perhaps anywhere in the world – had such a volume of major-match cricket.
And yet scoring has remained high, and Abu Dhabi has seen some classic encounters in every format of the game.
October 18, IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders tied with Sunrisers Hyderabad
The two playoff-chasing sides put on 163 apiece, before Kolkata went on to win the Super Over
January 8, ODI, UAE beat Ireland by six wickets
A century by CP Rizwan underpinned one of UAE’s greatest ever wins, as they chased 270 to win with an over to spare
February 6, T10, Northern Warriors beat Delhi Bulls by eight wickets
The final of the T10 was chiefly memorable for a ferocious over of fast bowling from Fidel Edwards to Nicholas Pooran
March 14, Test, Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by six wickets
Eleven wickets for Rashid Khan, 1,305 runs scored in five days, and a last session finish
June 17, PSL, Islamabad United beat Peshawar Zalmi by 15 runs
Usman Khawaja scored a hundred as Islamabad posted the highest score ever by a Pakistan team in T20 cricket
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Five personal finance podcasts from The National
To help you get started, tune into these Pocketful of Dirham episodes
·
Balance is essential to happiness, health and wealth
·
What is a portfolio stress test?
·
What are NFTs and why are auction houses interested?
·
How gamers are getting rich by earning cryptocurrencies
·
Should you buy or rent a home in the UAE?
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Co%20Chocolat%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Iman%20and%20Luchie%20Suguitan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Food%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%241%20million-plus%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Fahad%20bin%20Juma%2C%20self-funding%2C%20family%20and%20friends%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
Empire of Enchantment: The Story of Indian Magic
John Zubrzycki, Hurst Publishers
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre, four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: seven-speed dual clutch automatic
Power: 169bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh54,500
On sale: now
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E6.5-litre%20V12%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E725hp%20at%207%2C750rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E716Nm%20at%206%2C250rpm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E8-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EQ4%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh1%2C650%2C000%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
