The much-discussed meeting between undefeated featherweights Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy is official to headline UFC London on March 21 at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Evloev and Murphy are widely considered to be the two top contenders in the UFC’s 145-pound division. Both men were expected to be in the running to challenge UFC champion Alexander Volkanovski. However, that role was ultimately given to Diego Lopes for the second time in nine months at UFC 325 — a decision met by significant controversy.
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Volkanovski dispatched Lopes with another one-sided decision this past Saturday in Sydney, Australia, then advocated for one of either Evloev or Murphy to be his next challenger. As such, it’s very likely that the winner of UFC London’s main event will move on to challenge Volkanovski in the summer.
Evloev (19-0) is a perfect 9-0 under the UFC umbrella, but his rise has been slowed by long stretches of inactivity. The 31-year-old Russian has been sidelined since a December 2024 win over former featherweight champion Aljamain Sterling. He also holds notable victories over Lopes and Arnold Allen.
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Murphy (17-0-1) is also 9-0-1 inside the UFC, a run culminating with a highlight-reel spinning back elbow knockout of Aaron Pico this past August that captured Uncrowned’s Knockout of the Year award. Included among Murphy’s undefeated run are wins over veteran contenders Josh Emmett, Dan Ige and Edson Barboza.
The official UFC London fight card can be seen below.
Main card (Paramount+)
Featherweight: Movsar Evloev vs. Lerone Murphy
Featherweight: Luke Riley vs. Michael Aswell.
Welterweight: Michael Page vs. Sam Patterson
Light heavyweight: Iwo Baraniewski vs. Austen Lane
Middleweight: Roman Dolidze vs. Christian Leroy Duncan
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Featherweight: Danny Silva vs. Kurtis Campbell
Preliminary card (Paramount+)
Lightweight: Mason Jones vs. Axel Sola
Featherweight: Nathaniel Wood vs. Losene Keita
Heavyweight: Louie Sutherland vs. Brando Pericic
Middleweight: Mantas Kondratavicius vs. Antonio Trocoli
Heavyweight: Mick Parkin vs. Mario Pinto
Lightweight: Shem Rock vs. Abdul-Kareem Al-Sewady
Strawweight: Shanelle Dyer vs. Ravena Oliveira
