The UFC returns to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas for Saturday’s fight card, UFC Vegas 105, which kicks off the promotion’s schedule for April 2025. In the main event of the UFC Fight Night card, featherweights Josh Emmett and Lerone Murphy look to move up the promotion’s 145-pound rankings. Emmett enters the contest as the No. 8 ranked fighter in the UFC’s featherweight division, while Murphy checks in at No. 10. Below, we look at the betting odds for the Emmett vs. Murphy fight and offer our preview, picks, and predictions for the bout.

Josh Emmett (19-4) ended a two-fight losing skid in December 2023 with a brutal knockout win over Bryce Mitchell at UFC 296. The stoppage, which came at the 1:57 mark of the first round, earned Emmett his fifth UFC fight-night bonus in his past seven outings.

The 40-year-old Emmett has not fought since that memorable knockout victory.

Emmett put together a five-fight winning streak between March 2019 and June 2022. That run earned him an opportunity to face Yair Rodriguez for the interim UFC featherweight title in February 2023. Rodriguez won that contest via submission. Emmett followed that setback with a June 2023 decision loss to Ilia Topuria. He defeated Mitchell in his next outing.

UFC Rankings

Lerone Murphy (15-0-1) has been busy while Emmett was inactive. Murphy, who fought Zubaira Tukhugov to a draw in his UFC debut in September 2019, extended his unbeaten streak to 16 fights when he defeated Edson Barboza and Dan Ige by decision in 2024.

I wrote of Murphy after his win over Barboza, "Lerone Murphy put on a masterful performance in picking up a unanimous decision victory over UFC veteran Edson Barboza in the main event of UFC Vegas 92.

"Murphy, who had never fought in a UFC main event before Saturday night, moved to 14-0-1 in his career with the victory over Barboza.

"The 32-year-old English fighter did a phenomenal job of mixing up his striking and wrestling throughout the fight. His movement and speed allowed him to fight at a boxing distance, which largely negated Barboza’s most dangerous strikes, his kicks. Murphy also did a nice job of connecting with elbows when he fought in close.

“Any questions about Murphy’s ability to hang with ranked UFC welterweights were answered on Saturday when he fought his most complete contest as a UFC competitor.”

When the betting odds opened for this contest, Murphy was a -300 betting favorite over the +250 Emmett. Those odds have shifted slightly. Today, Murphy is listed at -308, while Emmett comes in as the +258 underdog.

*Odds via BetOnline

19-4 with seven knockouts and two submissions

40

5’6"

70"

Orthodox

15-0-1 with seven knockouts

33

5’9"

73"

Stance: Orthodox

4.04

36 percent

4.61

61 percent

: 0.91

37 percent

46 percent

4.80

54 percent

Significant Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 2.67

Striking Defense: 60 percent

Takedowns Per 15 Minutes: 1.78

Takedown Accuracy: 54 percent

Takedown defense: 48 percent

*Via UFCStats

Emmett put on an excellent performance against Mitchell, but Mitchell is not known as a striker, his opponent on Saturday, Murphy is a striker, and that is likely to make an enormous difference in this fight. Historically, lower weight fighters begin to decline at 35, Emmett is well past that age, and although he still packs a lot of power, that’s usually the last thing to go for a fighter. Expect the younger and more technical Murphy to test Emmett’s overall skill set in this matchup.

There is some betting value on picking Emmett to win via knockout because that’s always a possibility due to his impressive power, but the pick is for Murphy to win a decision in the main event of UFC Vegas 105.

Josh Emmett vs. Lerone Murphy
Pat Sabatini vs. Joanderson Brito
Cortavious Romious vs. Lee Chang-ho
Kennedy Nzechukwu vs. Martin Buday
Brad Tavares vs. Gerald Meerschaert
Torrez Finney vs. Robert Valentin

Ode’ Osbourne vs. Luis Gurule
Davey Grant vs. Daniel Santos
Diana Belbita vs. Dione Barbosa
Rhys McKee vs. Daniel Frunza
Loma Lookboonmee vs. Istela Nunes
Victor Henry vs. Pedro Falcão
Vanessa Demopoulos vs. Talita Alencar

UFC Vegas 105 Full Fight Card Betting Odds

Saturday, April 5, 2025

UFC Apex in Las Vegas, NV

Main Card: ESPN

Preliminary Card: ESPN+

Prelims: 6:00 p.m. ET

Main Card: 9:00 p.m. ET

“I could have fought, but I feel like I owe it to myself, my coaches, my wife, my family, my fans, and the UFC. The last handful of years, I’ve not been fighting at my best,” Emmett said via MMA Mania. “I’ve been fighting at a fraction of myself. So I had to work on myself and get back to 100 percent, and now I’m fighting and training the way I used to. You guys are gonna see something special Saturday night.”

“I know what 100 percent feels like, and I know what 30 percent feels like—which is how I’ve been fighting the last few years against the best guys in the world,” Emmett added. “And yeah, there are fights I definitely want back. But the first thing is, I’ve got to get through Lerone Murphy.”

“I feel like I’ve not been at my best in every fight [including the Mitchell fight]. I was getting worse,” Emmett continued. “I’ll tell you now, though—over the course of the last 14 months, we’ve been working on my power and everything, and I can promise you, I’m so much more powerful than I was. So wait till that right hand connects.”

Lerone Murphy On UFC Vegas 105

“Ilia Topuria went on to fight for the title after Josh Emmett, so for me, this is a No. 1 contender fight,” Murphy said via MMA Junkie. “I feel like behind Lopes and Volkanovski, who are fighting the week after, I think this is the best fight in the division. For me, this is the No. 1 contender fight. I’m looking forward to it.”

“I’m here to provide for my family and get that title and I don’t really care about anything else,” Murphy added. “But it’s probably because I’m quiet and reserved. That’s the only thing I can put that too, because if anybody else, especially in the UK, any of the UK fighters had the record I had and beat who I’ve beat, then you already know. It is what it is though.”

“I’m always going to be me. I’m never going to be fake. I could be fake and be an actor, but I’m always going to stick to what feels good for me. I’m just going to let my fighting do the talking and keep stacking up those wins, and surely after a bit, everyone will get behind me.”

We will have more on the UFC Vegas 105 main event: Emmett vs. Murphy fight as fight night approaches, as well as results, reactions, and more on fight night.