Why Is Lee Murray in Prison? Movie, MMA Record, and All About British UFC Fighter’s Life

“Lee Murray is one of the most legit gangsters of all time, he really is.” That’s what Dana White branded Lee Murray as after he got hospitalized with several stab wounds to his chest. You see, Murray was a man who could have become a celebrated UFC champion. With all eight of his MMA victories coming from knockouts and submissions, the Anglo-Moroccan fighter had a pretty bright future ahead of him. However, the 47-year-old was troubled by street fights and robberies in his youth. These weren’t average mistakes, but crimes that the law simply could not forgive. 

In 2006, Murray’s life took a bad turn, and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison four years later. But what exactly did he do to deserve such a lengthy sentence? Let me tell you, the former UFC middleweight contender was guilty of several offenses, including robbery, assault, and possession of substances. But let’s take a good look at Murray’s history, shall we?

What happened to Lee Murray?

Murray’s trouble began with the separation of his parents, Brahim and Barbara. After his father left, his single mother had to raise Murray and his sibling all alone. During this time, the middleweight attended the Eaglesfield Boys School, where the teachers found him difficult to manage and expelled him. But by the time he enrolled at Woolwich Polytechnic School to finish his schooling, he was already a member of a gang. He was allegedly involved in drug dealings and was later convicted of the possession of habit-forming substances. 

Murray was sentenced to serve at Feltham Young Offenders Institution for assault, theft, and other minor crimes. But one crime in 2006 turned his life upside down. The Anglo-Moroccan fighter and his accomplices were disguised as policemen and robbed a Securitas deposit in February 2006. They stole around $70.33 million. However, they had to leave $203 million because their vehicle didn’t allow it. Later on, the police recovered about $27 million and arrested 8 suspects. 

On 25 June 2006, the police finally arrested Murray in Rabat. He was kept locked up in Sale prison, but things went bad when he tried to escape in 2009. Soon, a Moroccan court found him guilty in June 2010, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. But later in November 2010, the sentence was extended to 25 years. This meant that the middleweight would get out of prison in 2035. However, recent reports suggest that a petition was made to bring Murray home after 20 years in prison. 

Murray’s heist was the biggest cash heist in the UK. And for this, Time Inc. decided to make a film about the former fighter’s bank robbery in 2008. 4 years ago, the UFC also released a short documentary titled ‘Lee Murray’s Crimes and Misadventures’ and premiered it through UFC’s FightLore. On top of that, Showtime also announced making a 4-episode docuseries titled ‘Catching Lightning’ in 2023. Talking about his crimes and life in prison, Murray once said, “I didn’t think about the future. I didn’t think about the future. My way of thinking today is totally different… In prison, you see what’s important in life… I think that by being in prison, I learn from my mistakes and I think that will be useful to them when I’m released and I can be with them. I’m sorry for what I did… I made a mistake.”

Now, let’s take a look at Lee Murray’s performance in the MMA world. Was he a champion? Does he wish to get back into the Octagon if he gets released a bit early from prison? 

How well did Lee Murray fare in the MMA realm?

As discussed earlier, Lee Murray has a professional MMA record of 8 wins, 2 defeats, and 1 no-contest. And the surprising thing is that all of his wins came via finishers – 4 KO/TKO wins and 4 submission wins. His MMA journey began in 1999 at Extreme Brawl UK. But after 3 wins as a professional fighter, Murray faced his first ever defeat in 2000, via a first-round armbar at Extreme Challenge 34. His next bout at United Kingdom Regional was ruled a no-contest, and the next bout ended in a draw. Following this, he went on to win 4 back-to-back fights before debuting in the UFC. 

Murray fought Jorge Rivera at UFC 46: Supernatural in 2004, and left the entire fighting realm impressed. He managed to defeat Rivera with a triangle armbar within just 2 minutes of their fight. He was later slated to fight Curtis Stout, but the bout was canceled. And Murray moved to Cage Rage to battle Anderson Silva. But bad luck hit hard as the bout against ‘Spider’ ended with a loss for ‘Lightning’. 

Unfortunately, Murray’s life outside the MMA cage ended the middleweight’s fighting career with a terrible incident in 2005. According to reports, the Briton was stabbed multiple times during his friend’s birthday party outside the Funky Buddha Nightclub, Mayfair, London. The incident left him with a punctured lung and a severed artery. Needless to say, he required several units of blood and apparently had to be resuscitated 4 times inside the operating theatre to survive. But what did the UFC head honcho have to say about it? Well, he did meet Murray after the incident. He said, “I actually ran into Lee Murray right after he got stabbed. He got stabbed everywhere and they were still fresh… Days after Lee Murray got stabbed he’s walking around the event with all the stitches still in him.“

Nevertheless, Murray might just return to win the UFC championship title. In ‘Catching Lightning’, he claimed, “Fighting is my life. Fighting is in my blood. If I’m not there to fight, I’ll take people there. One way or another, I have to win that UFC title. My story is not over. This is not the end.” Apart from that, he’s revealed that he desires to open a gym after getting released from prison. Already 47 with a sentence till 2035, do you think Lee has a chance to follow through on this dream? It’s important to note that he’s a man who even scared the UFC CEO.

What are your thoughts on the life story of Lee Murray? Do you think ‘Lightning’ can make a comeback in the MMA realm as a coach? Let us know what you think in the comments down below. 

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