Lerone Murphy has endured rejection as a young footballer and even a near-fatal shooting, and he's ready to show why he's England's next UFC champion.
On March 21, Manchester's own Murphy will face the most important fight of his career so far as he meets Movsar Evloev in the main event of the UFC London card.
With both men boasting unbeaten records, it is all but certain that the winner of the bout will go on to fight featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in their next fight later this year.
Heading into the fight, Murphy has 17 wins, with his most recent seeing him knockout fellow top talent Aaron Pico with a spectacular first round spinning elbow in August.
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But that doesn't mean that it's been an easy road for Murphy, who has had to deal with missing out on his dream to be professional footballer and a terrifying near-death experience on his road to headlining UFC London.
Long before he started training Mixed Martial Arts, Murphy, like many kids in the UK, dreamt of growing up to be a professional footballer and playing for boyhood club Manchester United.
"I used to love playing football as a child, we used to have kickabouts in the streets a lot and I played for the school football team. I always wanted to be a footballer, never dreamed of being a fighter ever," Murphy revealed in an exclusive interview with SPORTbible.
However, unlike most other kids, Murphy soon discovered he had a real chance of making his dream a reality, as he was offered the chance to trial with Liverpool.
"Obviously my dream would have been to play for Manchester United, but I think at that age you just want to play for a good club," Murphy admitted.
"I'm here now so it didn't go well! I love football but I think everything happens for a reason and I'm here now and I'm happy I'm here now.
"I stopped playing football at about 15, 16 and then life spiralled out and I got into MMA at like 22 years old. I just trained for fun really and then one thing led to another and I'm here."
But between hanging up his football boots and picking up the MMA gloves, Murphy had to deal with a truly traumatic event, as he was shot in the face outside a barber's in Fallowfield in 2013.
The incident left Murphy hospitalised for nearly two weeks, forcing him to eat food through a tube ahead of receiving surgery to replace his teeth.
Speaking about the incident, Murphy told SPORTbible: "Yeah something happened when I was younger, a lot younger and it put me on the path I'm on now.
"It's given me more direction and more fire, probably, more motivation to go and do better.”
Murphy took up MMA the following year in 2014 and made his professional debut in 2016 before joining the UFC in 2019.
Now, seven years later, he has the chance to take the final step towards realising his dream of becoming Britain's fourth-ever UFC champion, joining Michael Bisping, Leon Edwards and current heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
Tickets for UFC FIGHT NIGHT: EVLOEV vs MURPHY are available to buy now via AXS
Ben McCrum