Lerone Murphy has named the one fight he wants to tick off his 'bucket list' ahead of headlining UFC London this weekend.
On Saturday night, the UFC will make its long-awaited return to the United Kingdom as Manchester's own Murphy headlines a card taking place inside London's O2 Arena.
The 34-year-old faces fellow unbeaten star Movsar Evloev in the main event, with the winner almost certainly next in line for a title shot against featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski later this year.
Heading into the bout, Murphy boasts an impressive 17-0 record and is coming off a career-best performance that saw him finish fellow contender Aaron Pico with a spectacular first round spinning elbow in the first round.
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The win saw the Englishman take one step closer to superstardom, and in an exclusive interview with SPORTbible, he explained it opened the door for a fight that has been on his bucket list for a while.
Saturday night will be the third time that Murphy has had the pleasure of fighting in front of home fans in London, but it marks the first time that he will do so as one half of the main event.
Speaking about the importance of such an achievement, Murphy told SPORTbible: "I'm happy to headline a home card, I think it's been on the bucket list, like one of the things to check off the list is to fight a headline home card.
"For me it's just a journey, I'm trying to get to the title, but fighting for the home crowds is always the best, because your family and friends can come."
Of course, fighting in front of friends, family and home fans that adore you can bring an additional level of pressure and expectations to perform, but not for Murphy, who echoed the age-old mantra of 'anyone, anytime, any place'.
He added: "There's no added pressure for me, a fight is a fight, it doesn't matter if it's in a back garden, if it's in Vegas, MGM, don't really matter to me.I'm going to be locked in and focus on the fight.”
Despite boasting the advantages of a raucous and dedicated home crowd, the Manchester-based fighter isn't prepared to overlook the tough fight ahead of him this weekend.
READ MORE: Lerone Murphy’s Remarkable Road to UFC After Near-Death Experience and Liverpool Trial
Like Murphy, Russia's Evloev boasts an unbeaten record with 19 wins, including decision victories over England's Arnold Allen and former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.
“I feel like every next fight is the toughest fight, everyone poses their own problems and own risks," Murphy claimed.
"Obviously he's undefeated, he's never been beat, nobody's had a route to victory, but I back myself against anyone."
Evloev has made a name for himself as an elite wrestler who is capable of grinding down his opponents to a decision victory, which he has done in all nine of his UFC fights.
Meanwhile Murphy is more of a precision striker, capable of out pointing and even knocking out his opponents, if he can keep the fight on the feet.
Therefore, the featherweight talent knows that he has to do everything he can to ensure that Evloev isn't able to get the fight onto the matt and instead make the fight a striking competition that he is confident he can win.
He added: “I think everyone knows what I'm going to try and do in there, he's going to try and wrestle, I'm going to try and defensive wrestle and strike, simple. I'm a striker, he's a wrestler, everyone knows what's going to happen.”
UFC London: Movsar Evloev v Lerone Murphy starts from 18:00 on Saturday, March 21, and will be live on TNT Sports 1 and discovery+.
Ben McCrum