That’s how things looked in his sophomore outing against Ramos — natural and instinctive; like the attacks and counters he needed to deploy in order to escape potentially dangerous spots and eventually collect the first-round finish were sequences he could access without thinking.
“I felt like I was on autopilot out there,” he said of his performance against Ramos, which featured a number of quality scrambles and ended with Murphy unloading heavy ground-and-pound on the Brazilian late in the first round to secure the stoppage. “When you’re well-drilled in certain things, it just comes out.
“But that’s just my personality, too,” he added. “I’m just a chill guy. I take everything in life chill; I’m a relaxed person.
“In the fight, my mind was clear, I could hear my corner, every little situation that happened was just autopilot. That’s just the person that I am.”
After being a slept-on member of the featherweight class through his first two starts, Murphy has designs on being one of breakthrough fighters of the year in 2021 and is excited to get an early start on things, as it allows him to potential emulate a trio of fighters who captured the audience’s attention by competing frequently in 2020.
“You’ve got to look at the game at the moment: who are the biggest fighters?” he asked. “It’s the guys that are fighting four, five times a year — Khamzat (Chimaev), Kevin Holland, Angela Hill; these are the people the fans get to know because they’re fighting a lot.
“I’m happy to be able to fight in that times we’re going through — the UFC have done a crazy job putting on all these fights, keeping fighters putting food on the table — and to get a fight in January is a great start,” he added. “I want to get the year off to a good start, get a win, and hopefully I can get another three in.
“In a perfect world, I can get two, three, four more fights.”
With plans like that, does he have anyone particular in mind that he would like to share the Octagon with next?
“I would give you a name, but I feel like if you give names before the fight at hand, it’s a bit disrespectful,” said Murphy, showing veteran savvy and class. “If I get this win on January 20, I’ll definitely have a few names that I like.”
This time, people will be paying close attention, me included, because the days of sleeping on Lerone Murphy are over.
