Movsar Evloev takes the MD over Lerone Murphy
So call me crazy, but I agree! I saw people on the timeline giving Murphy all three first rounds and thought they were insane. Yes, Evloev fought dumb deciding to become a striker but dude was having a LOT of success. A lot of probably too strong but he was landing some really hard body kicks early and was having success with the overhand when he pressed Murphy back to the cage. I get that it was close and the natural instinct is to give the striker the benefit because he's staying in his realm but we're basically measuring impact in those first 3 rounds. And I think you can honestly say that swing both ways.
That said, the most confounding gameplan since Liz Carmouche decided to float around the cage against Valentina. Murphy is a man known for not being able to stuff a takedown and Evloev doesn't shoot until the 3rd round. And it's not even a shot. IIRC, Murphy tripped. Murphy did a great job of getting back up and breaking hands but this should have been the plan from the get go. Break Murphy with GnP on the way up. But he chose to box. I'm assuming someone in the UFC told him if he went out there and laid on Murphy for 25 minutes he'd lose his job or something (like they did with Mokaev). And again, for 3 rounds Murphy was incredibly competitive. He was landing some nice kicks and was able to find a home for his own rear hand. Just felt Evloev landed the more significant shots.
Big props to Murphy for calling for Evloev to get a title shot next. Big thumbs down to Bisping who ignored everything Evloev did in this fight.