All these new additions led Murphy to her biggest win to date when she defeated former UFC bantamweight champion Miesha Tate via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night: Ortega vs Rodriguez in July.
She hopes to double down on victories over past champions when she faces former strawweight titleholder Jessica Andrade at UFC 283: Teixeira vs Hill on January 21. Andrade makes it three past or current champions in a row for Murphy, who has her eyes set on a second run at the UFC flyweight title.
“My fight with Valentina was a huge learning experience for me,” Murphy said. “That night didn’t go the way that I wanted but there were a lot of lessons I took away from it and I made it a point to learn something from that fight, and the things I learned resulted in one of the best performances of my life in my next fight and that’s the trajectory that I’m going to stay on. I feel like, right now, it’s my time. I should be fighting former champions; I should be fighting current champions. I’m working my way back to a title fight, so I want these tough fights against these high-ranking UFC stars so I can work my way back to a championship and feel well prepared for it.”
Despite competing on the UFC’s first pay-per-view event of the year, and its return to a full capacity crowd in Brazil, Murphy isn’t awestruck by the opportunity. At this point in her career, she feels this is exactly where she belongs.
“I think I’m at a point in my career where that’s appropriate,” Murphy said. “I should be on the pay-per-views, so I didn’t really think of how special it is. It’s an honor to be in the UFC, it’s an honor to be in the Top 5 and it’s always an honor to be on a PPV, but this is the kind of fighter I am and where I belong.”