MANILA, Philippines – Englishman Lerone Murphy took a unanimous decision win against Filipino-Australian Josh Culibao in their main card bout last Sunday, July 23, at the O2 Arena in London England.
Culibao had his moments especially when Murphy slipped in the first round and when his head kick had Murphy reeling to open the second round. But the Filipino-Australian was unable to follow up with any finishing move to take a win.
Instead, it was Murphy who was obviously stronger and had more power in his shots and who ended all three rounds with a flurry of shots to take the decision of all three judges, who scored it 30-26 30-27 and 30-26.
“He is a tough cookie and I am surprised he survived the third round,” said Murphy of Culibao. “Credit to him. He is a warrior.”
Murphy hoped that following the win, which gave him a 13-0-1 record, he would get more chances.
“I am not a big talker and if you are a big talker you get noise. It is what it is but I compete in the UFC.”
Culibao fell to 11-2-1.
UFC Fight Night: Aspinall vs Tybura was televised live in the Philippines over the Premier Sports Channel on Skycable and Cignal as well as the TapGo TV streaming application.
The next UFC event is UFC 291 scheduled for July 30 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City Utah with Dustin Poirier (29-7-0) and Justin Goethe (24-4-0-) in the main event and Jan Blachowicz (29-9-1) and Alex Pereira (7-2-0) engaging in the co-main event.