In theory, there should be no denying Movsar Evloev the next featherweight title shot at this point.
Evloev improved to 20-0 in professional mixed martial arts and 10-0 in the UFC with a win over Lerone Murphy in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night event in London, England.
Evloev also holds notable wins over Diego Lopes, Arnold Allen and former 135-pound champion Aljamain Sterling, although one glaring issue is all 10 of his wins have been via decision.
The 32-year-old Russian has been the division’s No. 1 contender in the official UFC fighter rankings for a while, yet his momentum has been frequently interrupted by injuries and illness in recent years. Combine those setbacks with a dearth of memorable highlights during his win streak and his path to a UFC title shot has been delayed.
Consider this: Evloev’s win over Lopes was three years ago, but Evloev is only 3-0 since then while Lopes has fought eight times since they met and has earned not one but two title shots.
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Evloev, who hadn’t fought in nearly 16 months and only three times in the past four years overall, fought hesitantly against Murphy.
He didn’t attempt a takedown until the third round despite entering the matchup averaging 4.67 takedowns per 15 minutes. He got better as the fight progressed and landed nine of 10 attempts over the final three rounds.
Evloev was deducted a point for repeated low blows early in Round 4, but even with the point deduction it was enough for him to keep his record unblemished. One judge scored the bout a draw at 47-47 but the other two had it 48-46, or four rounds to one, for Evloev.
This was Evloev’s first main event and first 25-minute matchup of his UFC career. It was Murphy’s third time as a Fight Night headliner.
Murphy, who had never previously lost, indicated to his corner midway through the fight he injured his left hip and afterwards Murphy could be seen favouring that area of his body.
The 34-year-old from England was coming off a highlight-reel spinning elbow knockout of Aaron Pico, but will have to regroup before returning to the title conversation. Murphy entered the weekend the No. 3 contender in the division before falling to 17-1-1.
Current titleholder Alexander Volkanovski said leading up to UFC London that he felt the winner of Saturday’s main event should be next in line to challenge for gold ahead of someone like Jean Silva, who is ranked lower in the top 10 but is considered one of the most entertaining contenders at 145 pounds.
“Volkanovski mentions my name all the time and I’m accepting his challenge. Let’s (expletive) fight,” Evloev said following his majority decision win. “And UFC, there is no excuses to not let me fight for the title. I have nothing to say.”
Manchester’s Murphy was one of 11 fighters on the card who were either English-born and/or fighting out of England.
Liverpool’s Luke Riley improved to 13-0 in mixed martial arts and 2-0 in the UFC, beating Michael Aswell of the United States in the featherweight co-main event.
Riley had lightweight star and Next Generation MMA Liverpool teammate Paddy Pimblett in his corner and he used his boxing and takedown defence to get the better of Aswell, who was coming off a first-round knockout win in October.
The 26-year-old Riley had spent his entire career competing in England’s Cage Warriors organization before his successful UFC debut in November against Bogdan Grad. Earning a co-main event spotlight in just his second appearance speaks to the star potential the organization sees in him.
Speaking of potential, Iwo Baraniewski is a star in the making at 205 pounds.
The 27-year-old from Poland is now 8-0 in professional mixed martial arts after he became the latest fighter to flatten Austen Lane.
Baraniewski timed an overhand right and followed through with a short, left hand that sent Lane crumbling to the canvas and the referee halted the action after merely 28 seconds.
All eight of Baraniewski’s pro wins have been first-round stoppages with six in a row by KO/TKO after winning his first two pro matchups by submission. Baraniewski earned a UFC contract this past September thanks to a 20-second knockout on Dana White’s Contender series and thrilled in his 99-second barnburner UFC debut in December.
Meanwhile, the six-foot-six Lane was debuting in the light-heavyweight division after going 1-4 with one no-contest in the UFC’s heavyweight division from 2023 to 2025. All five of Lane’s UFC losses have been via first- or second-round KO/TKO.
Michael Page vs. Sam Patterson was the only matchup on the 13-bout card that featured two fighters from England yet, ironically, the compatriots drew boos from the crowd after an uneventful three-round contest.
Page, 38, was able to avoid damage and out-land his opponent to win a unanimous decision to improve to 4-1 in the UFC and 25-3 in MMA overall. This was Page’s first fight at welterweight since a competitive decision loss to Ian Machado Garry in 2024. Page went 2-0 in 2025 with wins over middleweight contenders Shara Magomedov and Jared Cannonier.
Patterson, 25, was visibly frustrated following the final round as he spent most of the bout as the fighter moving forward and pursuing offence. Patterson had finished his previous four UFC opponents in the opening round after he moved up to 170 pounds from 155 pounds two years ago.
Gloucester’s Christian Leroy Duncan escaped with a decision win over Roman Dolidze in other middleweight action. The unranked “CLD” has won three in a row and five of his past six and should find himself with a number beside his name next week since Dolidze was the No. 11-ranked contender at 185 pounds heading into the event.
Liverpool’s Kurtis Campbell was handed his first pro loss by Santa Ana, Calif.’s Danny Silva via second-round TKO in the first bout on the main card at UFC London,. Silva’s lone loss since 2022 and his only setback in the UFC was a decision to the surging Kevin Vallejos seven months ago.
Excluding Page vs. Patterson, which was the lone Brit vs. Brit matchup on the card, England-based fighters went 2-2/3-1 on the main card and 5-4/6-3 overall when you include the seven preliminary card results. UFC London was the 17th total event the UFC has held in London and its sixth at The O2 since 2022.
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