Can the 40-Year-Old Heavy Hitter Upset the Undefeated Prospect After a Year-Long Layoff?
After a 14-month layoff, Josh Emmett returns to the octagon this Saturday with a showdown with undefeated rising prospect Lerone Murphy. The featherweight division is wide open after Ilia Topuria vacated the championship after defeating Max Holloway at UFC 308. This matchup stylistically should be fascinating with two fighters who rely heavily on their striking to win fights. Which style will prevail? Murphy’s constant pressure and overwhelming output, or Emmet’s ridiculous knockout power?
Josh Emmett was once a title challenger not too long ago. After a few losses started to pile up, a lot of fans were writing him off. After a knockout of the year candidate in 2023 against Bryce Mitchell, the layoff could do wonders for Emmett’s overall game and recovery. He had back-to-back wars with Yair Rodriguez, where he was finished, and a five-round beating at the hands of Ilia Topuria. Giving himself time to recover mentally and physically, we could see a whole new Josh Emmett this weekend. Emmett has good wrestling, as he doesn’t use it as much as he should throughout his stint in the UFC. He relies solely on his boxing as he throws very few kicks and loads up on almost every right hand. He is extremely dangerous at any point in the fight and doesn’t even have to hit you clean to put your lights out. If he can make some reads on Murphy early and put his back against the fence, I feel like he could do damage that will slow Murphy down throughout the fight.
Lerone Murphy has a 15-0-1 record to start his UFC career with a hard-fought decision win in his last fight against Dan Ige. He was able to overcome adversity as he was dropped in round one. That was his toughest challenge so far in his career, and the same problems he dealt with against Ige, he will have in this matchup against Emmett. Murphy is going to have to use his elite athleticism, good footwork, and precision striking to wear Emmett down and build as the fight progresses. If the Englishman can keep this fight on the outside, he will be able to take control of the fight throughout.
This is an intriguing clash of styles. Despite Emmet’s age, his forward pressure and incredible power will create so many problems for Murphy throughout. If he doesn’t slow down and can get in close to Murphy, he will be able to find his button eventually, and with Emmett, it only takes one. For Murphy, he is going to have to rely on Emmet slowly down and whiffing on his overhead rights and hooks and use those opportunities to chip away at Emmett and pick him apart a little at a time. If he can circle away from the power shots and stick and move effectively, he will be able to win this fight on the scorecards. This fight could go either way and has major implications for the next title challenger in the featherweight division. Don’t miss all the action this Saturday on ESPN+ starting at 6 P.M. EST.
