Edson Barboza and Lerone Murphy have agreed to meet in a five-round UFC Fight Night main event in Las Vegas on May 18 at the UFC APEX. Both athletes have yet to sign the bout agreement, multiple people with knowledge of the situation confirmed to MMA Fighting following a report by Laerte Viana.
Barboza (24-11) re-enters the cage looking for his third straight victory after knocking out Billy Quarantillo, and following it up with a decision over Sodiq Yusuff in late 2023, rebounding from defeats to Giga Chikadze and Bryce Mitchell. A veteran of 29 octagon appearances and 12 post-fight bonuses, Barboza has won four of seven as a featherweight.
Murphy (13-0-1) is unbeaten so far since joining the UFC in 2019, starting his octagon run with a draw against Zubaira Tukhugov before going on to win five in a row since mid-2020, including knockouts over Ricardo Ramos and Makwan Amirkhani. Murphy won via unanimous decision over Josh Culibao in his most recent bout in July 2023.
Mike Heck contributed to this report.