Manchester’s Lerone Murphy will top the bill against Russian Movsar Evloev at UFC London. The event, officially named UFC Fight Night: Evloev vs Murphy, will take place at The O2 Arena.
The fight has been labelled as an eliminator for the 145-pound title currently held by Alexander Volkanovski.
Murphy’s Path to a Potential Title Shot
Murphy is currently the No3-ranked featherweight in the UFC. He is separated from No1 Evloev by Diego Lopes.
‘The Miracle’ will be looking for a statement performance on home territory to take him to a first title shot. His last fight saw him knock out Aaron Pico with a spinning back elbow in the first round at UFC 319 in Chicago last summer.
Murphy accepted that fight on short notice, adding to the impressiveness of the victory. Pico’s debut was supposed to have come the previous month against Evloev.
That win made it 18 fights unbeaten in professional MMA for Murphy. He has nine successive wins since drawing against Zubaira Tukhugov on his UFC debut in 2019.
Evloev’s Undefeated Record
Evloev is also undefeated. He has not fought since December 2024 after injury ruled him out of facing Pico.
His last visit to the octagon was in a decision win over former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 310.
British Fighters on the Card
Luke Riley from Liverpool, a team-mate of Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett, is in the co-main event against American Michael Aswell. It is only a second contest in the UFC for Riley, who knocked out Bogdan Grad in Qatar in November.
Michael ‘Venom’ Page and Sam Patterson collide in an all-British welterweight clash. Christian Leroy Duncan from Gloucester meets Georgian Roman Dolidze at middleweight.
Kurtis Campbell from Liverpool battles Danny Silva in another featherweight bout. Iwo Baraniewski and Austen Lane go head to head at light-heavyweight.
Mason Jones, Nathaniel Wood, Louie Sutherland, Shem Rock and Shanelle Dyer are the British fighters competing in the prelims. Melissa Mullins is no longer in action after opponent Luana Carolina missed weight. Ravena Oliveira also missed weight but is still expected to fight Dyer. Sunderland heavyweight Mick Parkin was replaced by Felipe Franco.
UFC London takes centre stage once more at The O2 Arena this weekend for its annual visit on Saturday night.