HOUSTON — Andrea Leewants to make history on Saturday night.
“KGB” takes on Lauren Murphy in a flyweight contest during the preliminary card of UFC 247, which is being headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and challenger Dominick Reyes.
Lee (11-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) wants to come out victorious, but also wants to be the first to stop Murphy (11-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC), whose only four losses have come via decision.
“I’m going for a finish,” Lee told MMA Junkie. “I’m planning on putting it all out there on the line and I’m sure she is too, so I’m expecting this to be exciting. She’s never been finished, that’s why it’s a goal. That would be incredible, so it’s definitely a goal. I would love to be the first.
“She fought ‘Sarj’ (Sijara Eubanks) to a decision, so putting her way is going to be tough, but either way I plan on getting my hand raised – whether it’s a decision or a finish.”
Lee is well aware the former Invicta FC champ is tough to put away. She attributes that to both Murphy’s experience and durability.
“She’s been in the game for a while, so her experience level is pretty high, not to mention she’s extremely tough,” Lee explained. “She’s like a robot, she just takes everything thrown at her. She’s fought a lot of tough opponents and the majority of her fights have gone to a decision, but that’s because she’s really tough, so I expect it to be a tough fight.”
Lee will attempt to bounce back from a split-decision loss to Joanne Calderwood last September. The defeat snapped a seven-fight win streak for the 30-year-old fighter.
“The last fight didn’t go my way,” Lee said. “I learned a lot from it and plan on taking those experiences and everything I learned into this fight and coming out on top, getting my hand raised.
“There were a couple of moments in the fight where I didn’t capitalize on some things, so let’s say the first round I took her down and was in good dominant position, instead of doing damage and work for a finish, I was just focused on controlling her. I lost out on some opportunities there. Also, my cardio might’ve been a little bad, so for this camp I pushed it much more. I don’t know if it was heat exhaustion because were in Abu Dhabi and it was insanely hot, but I just decided to go with I don’t think my cardio is good enough, so I’m going to push it.”
For more from Lee, click on the video linked above.
UFC 247 takes place Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
Andrea Lee praises Lauren Murphy's durability ahead of UFC 247: 'She's extremely tough'
