Lerone Murphy has built his career on a simple formula: show up, stay undefeated, and make himself undeniable. At 17-0-1, with a net worth reportedly touching $1.2 million, he has done everything a rising featherweight contender is supposed to do. Yet when the UFC and Dana White unveiled their first major slate for 2026, a seven-year, $7.7 billion broadcast era set to begin on CBS and Paramount, Murphy’s name was nowhere near the title picture. Instead, the company doubled down on a rematch for UFC 325: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes 2 in Sydney, Australia.

The announcement dropped on Thanksgiving Day, a holiday surprise that left the community buzzing. Still, no reaction landed harder than Murphy’s. The undefeated contender had been circling the title for months, waiting fo

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