Lauren Murphy faced Valentina Shevchenko for the UFC women’s flyweight title at UFC 266. Murphy suffered a one-sided loss via TKO at the hands of Shevchenko.
Murphy, during the fight week, suffered a setback. She and her team heard that their head coach, Alex Cisne, had tested positive for COVID-19 and won’t be in her corner. Because of her head coach missing, Murphy’s husband had to do two jobs. Cisne is her striking coach and could’ve helped Murphy with changing tactics against Valentina between rounds.
During the bout, people could hear the advice being given to Murphy by her corner. Daniel Cormier questioned the corner’s approach, especially Joe Murphy, who was heard giving positive thoughts.
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Lauren wasn’t happy about the comments, and in an interview, said, “I just felt bad that ‘DC,’ I guess, got on Joe’s case so bad — and I haven’t watched the fight back or heard what he said, but a couple of people messaged us and called us saying he was ragging on Joe.”
“I felt bad about it because DC didn’t realize I only had three corners in there that night. He didn’t realize our fourth guy was gone, the head guy,” she added.
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Lauren Murphy vs. Valentina Shevchenko – The Buildup
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Before meeting ‘Bullet’ at UFC 266, Murphy was on a five-fight win streak. Lauren’s coach, Alex Cisne, was in her corner in all of those fights. So, not having Alex in her corner and getting to know just days before the fight would have affected Murphy. Murphy said, “I can’t say, ‘If Alex had been there, I would’ve won,’ I can’t say that, but I definitely would’ve felt more comfortable, and I think I would’ve tried more things.”
‘Lucky’ and her team tried to get Alex involved somehow. They got Alex to talk to Paris by giving Paris an earpiece and the head coach talking to him, with the commission keeping a check on Alex. The issue was, there was a delay of about a minute, so by the time Alex got his message through, the next round was about to begin, which didn’t help the situation.
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Do you think Lauren would’ve done better with Alex in her corner? Let us know in the comments!
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