Lauren Murphy laughs when it’s pointed out to her that her last Octagon appearance against Sijara Eubanks took place in June 2018. A year and two months later, Murphy returns from that injury-induced layoff to face Mara Romero Borella this Saturday in Newark, yet she isn’t one to be waxing poetic about the months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds spent waiting to return to battle.
Instead, befitting someone competing in a promotion with the tagline “As real as it gets,” Murphy gets right down to business, having little time for anything but a straight line from one point to another.