FullContactMMA

Catch Me If You Can

Watch your back Tito, Lee Murray was officially released by the Morrocan Court for his participation in a British bank heist. Why should Tito be worried? For all the TUF noobs scratchin heads, i'll rewind a bit.

Lee Murray grew up in Great Britain where he was a member of a local street gang. Said to be a genius as a child, Lee Murray rose through the ranks rather quickly. Outside of his life of crime, Lee had a second love. Fighting. And it wasn't taken lightly by anyone. Lee Murray was dropping fighters like California redwoods with lightning fast precision, both inside and outside the cage, scaring the bloody piss out of the entire middleweight division. One of his street fights landed him face to face with then light heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz.

According to legendary trainer Pat Militech, Tito went for a punch that missed. Murray proceeded to land a five punch combo, each hit falling flush on target sending Tito to the cement. Murray continued to kick and beat him on the ground until one of the Militech boys pulled him off.

Lee Murray continued his fighting career until the glorified up and coming star landed in the UFC. In his first fight, he defeated seasoned veteran Jorge Rivera in the first round. Some time later, Lee's fight career was in jeopardy after being stabbed to near death outside of a London Night Club. The cat with nine lives recovered and was ready to make a comeback.

It was then that Lee Murray was suspected of masterminding the biggest bank heist in history, escaping with 80 - 90 million dollars. The only problem was, he was nowhere to be found. (Rumor has it, while Murray was on the run, he caused quite a stir posting on popular MMA forums) Eventually, the authorities caught up to him living in a multi million dollar mansion located in Morocco, a country containing no extraditing treat with Great Britain. Since his father was a native of Morocco, he too was considered a Moroccan citizen, and was held by their authorities instead of being extradited to Great Britain. (During his time in the Moroccan prison cell he was caught having smuggled tiny saws into his cell, which he would have used to break through the prison bars. He was also caught with a laptop computer and fifteen pounds of narcotics.)

Update from Sherdog.com:

Lee Murray, an MMA fighter whom British police say is a suspect in the biggest cash robbery in history, has been arrested after being released from a Moroccan prison, according to multiple reports.

Moroccan judges had decided that Murray is a citizen of their country and cannot be extradited in connection with the Feb. 22, 2006, theft of $92 million in cash outside of a London security depot.

Murray’s father was born in Morocco, and his mother is English. Roughly a year after the robbery, Murray was convicted on local drug charges in Morocco and given an eight-month sentence.

Derek Parker, Murray’s U.K. attorney, told ESPN The Magazine that Murray was surprised by his release.

“I spoke to him last night and he didn't even know that he was going for a hearing on the extradition,” Parker said Wednesday. “It was a complete surprise. When he arrived to court, they told him, ‘You're a Moroccan citizen. You can go.’”

However, British authorities requested that Moroccan authorities try Murray in Morocco in connection to the robbery. Murray was promptly arrested again, according to his Moroccan attorney, Abdellah Benlamhidi, who told FanHouse that he expects a trial to start soon.

Known for his punching power, Murray holds an 8-2-1 record in MMA. He went the distance with Anderson Silva in his last bout, a September 2004 loss via unanimous decision.