Lee Murray made his professional MMA debut in 1999, going on a three-fight winning streak to begin his career before losing by submission to Joe Doerksen in 2000. Following that fight, Murray put together the most significant—and last—winning streak of his professional fighting career, defeating five consecutive opponents inside of the distance, including UFC veteran Jorge Rivera in his UFC debut at UFC 46 in 2004. Following the win over Rivera, Murray fought well against the toughest opponent of his career, making it all three rounds in a Unanimous Decision loss to future UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson “The Spider” Silva.

Although Murray had a moderately successful fighting career, he is widely known to MMA fans around the world because of his activities outside of the cage. Murray was strongly linked to the famous 2006 robbery of the Securitas Cash Management Ltd depot in Vale Road, Tonbridge, Kent, which resulted in the largest amount of British money ever stolen in a robbery. Murray absconded to Morroco for many years following the heist. Murray was also allegedly involved in a street brawl with former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz in 2002, and reportedly knocked Ortiz out cold.