With Tristan Connelly out, Lerone Murphy steps in to face Makwan Amirkhani at UFC 267

Lerone Murphy has landed on an Abu Dhabi card once again.

Tristan Connelly has been forced out of UFC 267, and Murphy (10-0-1 MMA, 2-0-1 UFC) will step in on short notice to face Makwan Amirkhani (16-6 MMA, 6-4 UFC) on Oct. 30 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, promotion officials announced Tuesday morning.

Signed for #UFC267!

@MakwanAmirkhani vs @LeroneMurphy is official!@VisitAbuDhabi | @InAbuDhabi | #InAbuDhabi pic.twitter.com/Fy7FxcQAoN

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) September 28, 2021

Unbeaten in the UFC, Murphy will compete in Abu Dhabi for the fourth straight time. He battled Zubaira Tukhugov to a majority draw in his promotional debut at UFC 242 and notched his first octagon win when he finished Ricardo Ramos in the first round at UFC on ESPN 30 in July. The 30-year-old Manchester native followed that up with a unanimous decision win over Douglas Silva de Andrade in January and was scheduled to face Charles Jourdain at UFC Fight Night 191 in September before visa issues forced him out of the bout.

Meanwhile, Amirkhani will look to snap a two-fight losing skid. After scoring a first-round submission of Danny Henry at UFC 251 in July 2020, Amirkhani has dropped back-to-back unanimous decisions to Edson Barboza and most recently Kamuela Kirk at UFC Fight Night 189 in June.

The latest UFC 267 lineup now includes:

• Jan Blachowicz vs. Glover Teixeira – for light heavyweight title
• Petr Yan vs. opponent TBA
• Magomed Ankalaev vs. Volkan Oezdemir
• Islam Makhachev vs. opponent TBA
• Marcin Tybura vs. Alexander Volkov
• Khamzat Chimaev vs. Li Jingliang
• Shamil Gamzatov vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk
• Virna Jandiroba vs. Amanda Ribas
• Ricardo Ramos vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
• Damir Ismagulov vs. Magomed Mustafaev
• Makwan Amirkhani vs. Lerone Murphy
• Alen Amedovski vs. Hu Yaozong
• Allan Nascimento vs. Tagir Ulanbekov
• Albert Duraev vs. Roman Kopylov