Lee Murray - Mixed Martial Arts Career

Mixed Martial Arts Career

Shortly after dodging arrest Murray was introduced to mixed martial arts, and he competed in his first fight on 5 December 1999 at an event called "Millennium Brawl" that was held at Hemel Hempstead Pavilion. His opponent was Rob Hudson, and Murray knocked him out in the first round, prompting event promoter Andy Jardine to say, "He was so quick they called him 'Lightning' Lee Murray."

Murray's successful debut led him to begin training seriously; he jogged around the Abbey Wood Estate and attended two gyms - London Shootfighters in White City for wrestling, and Peacock's Gym in Canning Town for boxing. Martin Bowers, who ran Peacock's with his brothers Tony and Paul, described Murray as "a very nice boy" who "conducted himself well." Bowers said that Murray reminded him of many other young men who he'd seen in his gym over the years, men who'd come from troubled backgrounds but whose lives were given structure by sport. Notably, at the same time that Murray was training at Peacock's Gym the Bowers brothers were planning a series of robberies, the biggest being a brazen raid on a high-security warehouse at Gatwick Airport; their scheme involved disguising themselves as security officers, utilizing a phony Brink's-Mat van to get into the depot, and then stealing £1 million in foreign currency. After Scotland Yard found out about the planned heist all three brothers were arrested and jailed; it has been speculated that while Murray had no prior knowledge about the caper, the schematics that were later revealed publicly may have given him some of the ideas that were used in the not-dissimilar Securitas depot robbery.

Murray had four professional fights in 2000; the first was a 12 March encounter with Mike Tomlinson under the banner of "Ring of Truth." Murray won the fight via a kimura submission in the first round, but it was in February 2004 that he would expand on some of the events surrounding the fight. Writing on a message board in a now-archived thread from the mixed martial arts website Sherdog, Murray told the story of watching Prince Naseem Hamed's fight at a pub the night before his own match with Tomlinson; when a patron stood in front of Murray and then accused him of stealing his seat after being asked to move, Murray allegedly knocked the man and his friend who attempted to aid him unconscious, followed by utilizing knee-strikes to knock out a bartender who rushed to break up the fight. The following morning - and day of his fight with Tomlinson - Murray was unable to close his left hand; his friend (and former professional mixed martial artist) Dexter Casey examined the injury and said they needed to go to the hospital, but Murray claims to have refused. After taping the hand, Murray relied solely on his good (right) hand, stating that he "caught him with a few good rights...he was rocked so he took me down then I caught him in a keylock on the ground and won the fight...after that I went to the hospital and got my hand plastered up, it was broke in two places."

Murray's next two bouts took place on 17 June 2000 in a tournament fought at Extreme Challenge 34. Murray defeated his first opponent, Chris Albandia, by ankle lock in the first round. Murray would later say that he thought Albandia was a kickboxer because he was wearing Thai shorts, so he started the fight out with leg kicks. When Albandia surprised Murray by performing a single-leg takedown, Murray said he "sprawled and took him to the side of the cage where I was kneeing him and punching constantly. He dropped again and took me down, going for a leglock. So I grabbed his leg and went to trade leglocks with him. I cranked an achilles lock on and I think it must have snapped because there was a real loud crack. Even Pat heard it in my corner and when Chris got up he couldn't put weight on it. So I won that one."

The victory advanced Murray to the second round of the tournament, but he would lose by armbar to Canadian submission-specialist Joe Doerksen in the opening round. Murray said that when he "went into the final, I was so happy and excited about winning the first I just sort of lost my focus... a BJJ guy who's only ever lost to Matt Hughes and Eugene Jackson. Anyway, he just took me straight to the ground. I didn't even make him pay while he tried. He launched a three sub attack at me with me in his guard. I fended off two and then got submitted with a keylock. I learnt a lot from that fight."

Murray's next fight was just weeks later, a 9 July contest against Danny Rushton, a fighter who had gained a reputation for toughness due to his competing in true no-holds-barred competitions in Russia. The match ended up a no-contest, however, after Rushton collapsed in the first round due to exhaustion.

At some point in 2000, Murray traveled to Bettendorf, Iowa to train at the renowned Miletich Fighting Systems camp run by former UFC welterweight champion Pat Miletich. In an interview conducted before the Rushton fight, Murray stated that while at MFS he trained a "hell of a lot of ground work. And a lot of kickboxing too. I prefer standup. Well, I just prefer to strike really. I like to keep the fight standing up and punch. Mind you, I like to punch from the mount too. I like to strike."

On 11 March 2001, Murray fought to a draw against Chris Bacon at Millennium Brawl 2: Capital Punishment; he followed that up with a first-round knockout of Gary Warren at Millennium Brawl 3: Independence Day on 1 July.

On September 11, 2004 Lee fought now UFC middle weight champion Anderson 'The Spider' in Cage Rage 8 for the vacant middleweight title. The fight last all 3 rounds but Anderson Silva was given the unanimous decision.

Lee amassed a 8-2-1 (1NC) record in smaller promotions before receiving a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). In his UFC debut, he defeated Jorge Rivera by triangle choke/armbar in the first round. This was Murray's only fight in the UFC due to complications with his US visa as a result of ongoing criminal prosecution against him in the UK for assault after he attacked a man during a road rage incident. This led to Murray signing with the Cage Rage promotion, which was also short-lived due to injuries resulting from a stabbing preventing Lee from continuing his MMA career.