The UFC 319 crowd experienced some deja vu toward the end of the night. None of them were complaining.
In the third fight of the main card, Carlos Prates hammered Geoff Neal with a spinning back elbow to the head for a KO in the final second of the first round Neal was barely responsive on the floor as Prates began celebrating.
It was the ninth spinning back elbow KO in UFC history, and Prates' UFC-best fifth KO since the start of 2024.
That would have been the moment of the night... and then the exact same thing happened in the next fight.
In the second round of the co-main event, Lerone Murphy welcomed Aaron Pico to the UFC with another spinning back elbow KO in the first round, the 10th in UFC history.
Both fighters were understandably amped after their wins. Prates got a big bounce back after a loss to Ian Machado Garry in April, which ended an 11-fight win streak. He was feeling good enough that he asked UFC CEO Dana White, from the Octagon, for both a $50,000 bonus and a fight against Leon Edwards in the upcoming UFC card in Rio de Janeiro in October:
“I’m feeling amazing. Tomorrow will be my birthday, please give me a fight in Brazil. $50K bonus, let’s go, let’s party. I think the co-main event in Rio should be Carlos Prates vs. Leon Edwards. The time is now.”
The Brazilian got both, which is not how White usually does business.
As for Murphy, the win continues an undefeated run to begin his professional career at 17-0-1. He took the fight on two-and-a-half-weeks notice against Pico, who was making his UFC debut after an impressive run at Bellator.
Murphy demanded a title shot against UFC featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski, which Volkanovski immediately accepted via social media.
Like Prates, it was also quickly confirmed Murphy would also receive a $50,000 bonus.
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