Lauren Murphy beats Joanne Calderwood to earn a shot at UFC gold

Lauren Murphy extended her win streak to five, making it the longest active winning streak behind the champ Valentina Shevchenko who stands at seven.

Controversy on the Scorecards

Both women stuck to their strengths in this one, Calderwood looked to stay on the outside and pick her opponent apart. When things got a little too close for comfort JoJo looked to attack the body with knees and land upstairs with elbows.

Murphy looked to use her size, particularly on the ground where she netted herself a perfect 10-8 in Round 2. It appeared that Calderwood was on her way to a split decision win, after she out landed Murphy with variety in Rounds 1 and 3.

CSAC executive director Andy Foster discussed the strides that have been made in MMA judging but it seems that it still has long way to go if this fight is anything to go by.

What can Murphy bring to The Champ?

Murphy has size and when the opportunity arises she uses it to its fullest. Shevchenko likes to fight on the outside and we just seen her struggle against and out fighter in Joanne Calderwood so I am not too sure about how she does. The last fighter Valentina Shevchenko faced, Jessica Andrade, relies on her solid power and Shevchenko handled her with strikes from the crucifix.

Lauren Murphy does not have a background in martial arts or athletics, she started at an age where most are too afraid to try. She had three months of training and did not even take an amateur fight, straight to the professional stage. She went on to capture the Invicta Bantamweight belt and went on to join the ranks of the UFC and had a rough intro, losing 4 of 6 but carved a path to a shot at UFC gold in spite of this.

Who knows, maybe Lauren Murphy improves her ring generalship and pressure along the fence and grinds out a decision to capture Women’s Flyweight gold.

If there is anyone who can take what is seemingly shot in the dark and go all the way is Lauren Murphy.