Lee Murray Interview
Pedro Wrobel Jul 22, 2004
Middleweight Lee Murray is
England's hottest fighting property right now. With a record of
8-1-1, he has finally been making waves in the global sport of
mixed martial arts, with stoppage victories over the legendary
Brazilian striker, Jose 'Pele' Landi-Jons, and the tough Puerto
Rican, Jorge Rivera . Lee
was signed to fight against Curtis Stout at UFC 48 but was
unable to compete due to visa complications. It has recently been
confirmed that Lee will be fighting against another dangerous
Brazilian striker, Anderson
Silva , at Cage Rage 8 in September.
Sherdog.com caught up with Lee to find out his thoughts on his career, on Cage Rage, on the UFC and on his fellow fighters.
Sherdog: So, Lee, it's now been confirmed
that you'll be fighting against Anderson Silva at Cage Rage 8.
How do you feel about that?
Lee Murray : Anderson is a tough guy, he's one of the best middleweight fighters in the world. A win over Anderson Silva -- that'd be a big step up the ladder for me. It would put me right at the top level of fighters in the middleweight division. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.
Murray: Yeah, I had big visa problems, I can't get out there at the moment. I've got an ongoing court case and that probably won't be done until late September, October, maybe even November. Until that's all sorted, I can't get out to the UFC no more. So I've got to keep myself busy and fight in England.
Sherdog: So can we expect to see you back there once the case is done?
Murray: Yeah, once the court case is out of the way and if I can get out there, I'll go. I'm still contracted to the UFC and they're letting me fight over here in Cage Rage in September to keep busy. As soon as I can get back to America to fight, then I'll be back there.
Sherdog: Does that assume a victory over Anderson?
Murray: Well I'll be fighting here at Cage Rage no matter what happens. That's for sure, that's a given. I'm told that Anderson Silva has accepted the fight, he wants to fight me, he's ready to come over here. What happens after that ... I dunno, we'll see.
Sherdog: There's a whole set of rumours surrounding your potential opponents in the UFC. You had some bad words spoken about you by Joe Riggs. What's that all about?
Murray: (frowning) Joe Riggs has never fought anybody tough, and when he has fought somebody tough, he's never beaten them. He's never beaten anybody tough. They asked me to fight this Riggs and my training team all said: "Who's Joe Riggs?" Nobody knew who Joe Rigs was, so we said "bring us somebody better than him." We asked for the top guys -- we were asking for guys like Anderson Silva even then. We asked for Evan Tanner , we asked for Phil Baroni , we were after the guys who were in the top ten, the top five but the UFC couldn't make any of those matches so it was a last minute thing, I got matched up with Curtis Stout . They said to us: "Look, we've got these fighters that you can fight," and they asked us to fight Curtis Stout . So I thought f--k it -- I'll fight Curtis Stout , I'll fight anyone. But Joe Riggs ... I believe he's fighting in August, he'll be fighting against ...
Sherdog: ... Joe Doerksen ...
Murray: Yeah, Joe Doerksen , and if he beats Joe Doerksen and he wants to fight me then I'll fight him. He can come here, or I'll go there, whatever. We'll fight. Because Doerksen has got a win over me, and that's the only loss I've got on my record -- to Joe Doerksen . That was, like, three or four years ago when I didn't know anything. I didn't know any groundwork -- I'd only been training a little while. So yeah, if he wants to fight we'll fight. We'll get it on.
Sherdog: Jorge Rivera said at the weigh-in (for Cage Rage 7) that a win over Mark Weir could set up a rematch with you. He said he'd made some mistakes in your fight and he'd really like to fight you again. Any thoughts on that?
Murray: I think there's no need for a rematch with Rivera. I beat him cleanly, I beat him convincingly, it wasn't even close. It didn't go to a split decision. There was nothing close about the fight -- I won the fight in a minute, so fair enough. I won fairly and cleanly and I've got to move on from that. I want to fight the people that are on top of their game, the people that are in the top five, and I want to just work my way up until I get to number one. If I beat Anderson Silva in September, then I believe that I'll be number three in the world. I think the only guys who would be above me then are Evan Tanner and Matt Lindland . And then I'll take Tanner and then I'll take Lindland and then I'll be number one. That is my goal -- to get to number one. I couldn't give a s--t about these guys who are behind me, just running their mouths. I couldn't give a s--t about them. I'm going for the guys that are in front of me, I ain't going for the guys who are behind me, there's no point in that. I don't want to take backwards steps; I want to take forward steps. I want to get to the belt; I want to get to number one.
Sherdog: How about Japan? Is UFC the way forward? Or would you like to fight in Pride or Bushido, now that they have that show?
Murray: I'd like to stay with the UFC. I'm not really bothered about fighting here, there and everywhere. I'd like to stay in the UFC. But if I can't get my visa, if I can't get out there, then what can I do? I'll just have to go elsewhere to fight. I need to keep fighting and that's the bottom line.
Sherdog.com caught up with Lee to find out his thoughts on his career, on Cage Rage, on the UFC and on his fellow fighters.
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Lee Murray : Anderson is a tough guy, he's one of the best middleweight fighters in the world. A win over Anderson Silva -- that'd be a big step up the ladder for me. It would put me right at the top level of fighters in the middleweight division. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to it.
Sherdog: What's the situation with the UFC at
the moment? You had visa trouble?
Murray: Yeah, I had big visa problems, I can't get out there at the moment. I've got an ongoing court case and that probably won't be done until late September, October, maybe even November. Until that's all sorted, I can't get out to the UFC no more. So I've got to keep myself busy and fight in England.
Sherdog: So can we expect to see you back there once the case is done?
Murray: Yeah, once the court case is out of the way and if I can get out there, I'll go. I'm still contracted to the UFC and they're letting me fight over here in Cage Rage in September to keep busy. As soon as I can get back to America to fight, then I'll be back there.
Sherdog: Does that assume a victory over Anderson?
Murray: Well I'll be fighting here at Cage Rage no matter what happens. That's for sure, that's a given. I'm told that Anderson Silva has accepted the fight, he wants to fight me, he's ready to come over here. What happens after that ... I dunno, we'll see.
Sherdog: There's a whole set of rumours surrounding your potential opponents in the UFC. You had some bad words spoken about you by Joe Riggs. What's that all about?
Murray: (frowning) Joe Riggs has never fought anybody tough, and when he has fought somebody tough, he's never beaten them. He's never beaten anybody tough. They asked me to fight this Riggs and my training team all said: "Who's Joe Riggs?" Nobody knew who Joe Rigs was, so we said "bring us somebody better than him." We asked for the top guys -- we were asking for guys like Anderson Silva even then. We asked for Evan Tanner , we asked for Phil Baroni , we were after the guys who were in the top ten, the top five but the UFC couldn't make any of those matches so it was a last minute thing, I got matched up with Curtis Stout . They said to us: "Look, we've got these fighters that you can fight," and they asked us to fight Curtis Stout . So I thought f--k it -- I'll fight Curtis Stout , I'll fight anyone. But Joe Riggs ... I believe he's fighting in August, he'll be fighting against ...
Sherdog: ... Joe Doerksen ...
Murray: Yeah, Joe Doerksen , and if he beats Joe Doerksen and he wants to fight me then I'll fight him. He can come here, or I'll go there, whatever. We'll fight. Because Doerksen has got a win over me, and that's the only loss I've got on my record -- to Joe Doerksen . That was, like, three or four years ago when I didn't know anything. I didn't know any groundwork -- I'd only been training a little while. So yeah, if he wants to fight we'll fight. We'll get it on.
Sherdog: Jorge Rivera said at the weigh-in (for Cage Rage 7) that a win over Mark Weir could set up a rematch with you. He said he'd made some mistakes in your fight and he'd really like to fight you again. Any thoughts on that?
Murray: I think there's no need for a rematch with Rivera. I beat him cleanly, I beat him convincingly, it wasn't even close. It didn't go to a split decision. There was nothing close about the fight -- I won the fight in a minute, so fair enough. I won fairly and cleanly and I've got to move on from that. I want to fight the people that are on top of their game, the people that are in the top five, and I want to just work my way up until I get to number one. If I beat Anderson Silva in September, then I believe that I'll be number three in the world. I think the only guys who would be above me then are Evan Tanner and Matt Lindland . And then I'll take Tanner and then I'll take Lindland and then I'll be number one. That is my goal -- to get to number one. I couldn't give a s--t about these guys who are behind me, just running their mouths. I couldn't give a s--t about them. I'm going for the guys that are in front of me, I ain't going for the guys who are behind me, there's no point in that. I don't want to take backwards steps; I want to take forward steps. I want to get to the belt; I want to get to number one.
Sherdog: How about Japan? Is UFC the way forward? Or would you like to fight in Pride or Bushido, now that they have that show?
Murray: I'd like to stay with the UFC. I'm not really bothered about fighting here, there and everywhere. I'd like to stay in the UFC. But if I can't get my visa, if I can't get out there, then what can I do? I'll just have to go elsewhere to fight. I need to keep fighting and that's the bottom line.
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