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Lerone Murphy recently discussed his experience sharing a locker room with Ilia Topuria last Saturday at UFC 308. He noted that 'El Matador' was calm and in a joyful mood.
The Englishman recalled that the reigning featherweight champion wasn't nervous at all, considering that he was making his first title defense and made a bold claim of being the first fighter to knock Max Holloway out. Topuria did exactly what he promised and earned an impressive knockout win to retain his title in the main event.
During a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Murphy mentioned that he and Topuria had a brief interaction in the locker room, where 'El Matador' compared fighting to a sparring session:
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"[Ilia] Topuria talked to me in the change room...He said, 'It's just another day in sparring'. It's kind of stuck into me, his mindset going into fights is different and that's why he's performing and maybe that's how I need to look at it, just another day in sparring...Bro, he's relaxed. He was already counting his money before even going into the fight. That's how relaxed he was. He had his top off, he was chilling, cracking jokes."
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Check out Lerone Murphy's comments below:
Lerone Murphy discloses that his backstage demeanor is different than Ilia Topuria's
In addition to recalling his interaction with Ilia Topuria backstage at UFC 308, Lerone Murphy disclosed that his backstage demeanor is much different than the featherweight champion's.
During the aforementioned clip, Murphy mentioned that he is much more animated when he is getting ready for a fight and can't see himself joking with his team like Topuria did:
"It's not even nerves. I'm just like, in some mad kill mode. I'm just like pumped. I don't know... I'm not cracking no jokes in the back...Maybe I put too much pressure on the win part of it... and these guys are like, 'I've already won. I'm not even bothered.'"
The Englishman's method has been successful for his career as he improved his record to 15-0-1 with a decision win over Dan Ige at UFC 308.
Check out the official decision for Lerone Murphy vs. Dan Ige at UFC 308 below:
