lerone Murphy rebounded from a first round knockdown to win a competitive back-and-forth battle with Dan Ige on the scorecards tonight at UFC 308.
Round One:
Ige moves forward quickly and lands a punch. He continues to apply pressure now and lands a low kick. Front kick to the body from Murphy.
Murphy steps into a leg kick. Both throw a punch at the same time. Ige moves forward while pumping the jab. Murphy works his own jab and lands it a couple of times.
Ige punches to disguise a nice takedown attempt against the cage and secures it. Ige traps Murphy’s legs as he improves position. Back to half-guard now. Murphy scrambling, but Ige does well to keep him down and take his back. Murphy scrambling again and gets up nicely.
Now Murphy is pressing Ige into the cage. Ige bleeding a little from earlier punches as they separate and go back to striking range in the center of the Octagon.
Gracing right hand from Murphy. Head kick attempt from him. Body kick for Murphy. Now a punch that Ige ducks under and then delivers a hard counter that stops Ige in his tracks and sinks him to the canvas.
Murphy still able to fight on then. They scramble back up to the feet as Ige looks to continue to capitalize. He’s firing off strikes but then Murphy throws hard to show he’s still in the fight.
Late in the round now and Murphy does well to work a takedown of his own now and uses that to ride out the remaining time on the clock.
Round Two:
Murphy misses with a front kick upstairs. Body punch from Ige. Right hand for Murphy. He moves backwards and then throws a nice elbow. Body punch from Ige. He lands another.
Ige with a left hand off a punch from Murphy. Murphy feels out with his high front kick again. Body kick for Ige. Murphy goes to the body with a punch. Jab for him.
Ige drives in on a takedown. Murphy thought about a knee to counter that but couldn’t find the time as Ige works him up against the cage.
Murphy able to reverse the position now. A few punches from Murphy. Ige turns him now and then they separate.
Glancing right hand for Murphy. Now a front kick to the body. He tries a head kick but Ige blocks it. Straight right for Murphy.
Outside leg kick from Ige. Both land the jab. Nice knee upstairs at close range from Murphy. Now a nice takedown for him and immediately works into full mount. Ige gives up his back. Murphy high on his back though and slips off.
Murphy works into a triangle choke attempt from his back. He’s not able to quite lock it up with not much time remaining in in the round, so he just uses it to hold Ige in place while he lands a few strikes.
Round Three:
Ige pushing forward, but as he gets his back to the cage Murphy suddenly bursts forward and goes into a takedown attempt. Ige defending that though and Murphy throws a light knee upstairs and then backs off.
Head kick attempt from Murphy and Ige just gets his hand up on time to block it. Murphy in on a takedown and gets it, but Ige is looking to reverse. He almost does so but it’s touch and go before he finally does manage to end up in side control in the center of the Octagon.
Ige in half-guard. Murphy looks to scramble and then transitions to a leg lock, but Murphy does well to roll out of that and stay on top.
Ige in Murphy’s guard now and not doing too much with it. Murphy working on a triangle choke attempt now, but can’t quite secure it. Soon after he’s able to scramble up to is feet though, but Ige is still pressing him into the cage.
Murphy reverses the clinch and takes Ige down. Ige on his knees as Murphy goes for punches. Ige almost up, but then back down again.
Murphy moves around and looks for a potential guillotine. Ige quickly out of that and on his knees. Murphy slips off his back and that enables Ige to stand. Murphy with an elbow. Murphy jumps in with a knee but doesn’t connect clean.
Final few seconds and Murphy looks to have a bit more left in the tank as he goes on the attack and Ige does his best to respond.
Decision:
Good fight then with Ige applying pressure well early in the fight and also claiming the biggest moment in the fight when he floored Murphy with a clean counter in that opening round. To his credit Murphy rebounded well from that and grew into the fight over time as Ige’s energy levels appeared to dwindle. Murphy then got the better of the wrestling and grappling exchanges in the final five minutes to help secure a unanimous decision victory (29-28 x3).
