Manchester fighter Lerone Murphy saw his hopes of a title shot go up in smoke as he was edged out by Movsar Evloev in a controversial decision at UFC London.
Murphy succumbed to a majority decision defeat despite his Russian opponent having a point deducted in the fourth round for a second low blow, with the judges scoring the bout 48-46, 48-46, 47-47 in Evloev’s favour.
Coming up short in what was seen as an eliminator to decide featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski’s next challenger, “The Miracle” also lost his undefeated record in the process and leaves the O2 Arena now 17-1-1 as a professional.
Murphy, 34, took a moment to get going in a close first round but began to really find his rhythm in the next two, with his movement and sharp striking starving 32-year-old Evloev from obvious takedown opportunities.
It meant Evloev, who was firing striking offence of his own, barely shot for a takedown in the first 10 minutes and even when the Russian eventually took Murphy to the mat in the third, the Briton showed off impressive defence to quickly get back to his feet.
As the fight entered the championship rounds with Murphy in control, Evloev was deducted a point after falling foul of his second low blow of the night, which left Murphy crawling in agony.
This appeared to vastly diminish Evloev’s chances of victory without a finish but he nevertheless ended the bout in style, dominantly taking the final two rounds to force the fight to a decision.
All three judges contentiously scored the third round in Evloev’s favour while two gave the Russian the first round, delivering him a crucial victory and taking his own unbeaten record to 20-0.
Murphy was gracious in defeat and called on matchmakers to ensure Evloev gets what is due to him, saying: “Make sure Movsar gets the title shot, he deserves it.”
In the co-main event, Paddy Pimblett’s teammate Luke Riley went 2-0 in the UFC as he swept the scorecards against Michael Aswell Jr, finally getting a victory on the board for the Liverpudlians after Kurtis Campbell was knocked out by Danny Silva in the main card’s opener.
Riley had spoken honestly about whether he deserved the headliner spot ahead of Michael “Venom” Page but the 38-year-old veteran’s bout with Sam Patterson failed to deliver, with fans raining down boos as Page was declared the winner after both fighters failed to show much activity.
Christian Leroy Duncan, meanwhile, will hope to enter the middleweight rankings after overcoming Roman Dolidze after an impressive performance, while Polish light heavyweight Iwo Baraniewski pulled off a stunning 28-second knockout over Austen Lane to maintain momentum.
Similarly to the main card, the prelims were also a mixed bag for the Brits but were rounded off by an absolute barnburner between Welshman Mason Jones and Axel Sola, who engaged in a firefight of eccentric striking.
“The Dragon”, who spent two years out of the UFC before making his return to the world’s premier mixed martial arts promotion in 2025, saw a deserved unanimous decision victory go in his favour before making an impassioned post-fight speech to the London crowd.
The card also kicked off in style as London-bred debutant Shanelle Dyer sent the early-arriving fans into raptures, knocking out Ravena Oliveira with a stunning headkick in the second round.
Her triumph was followed up by Great Britain Top Team teammate Nathaniel Wood, who eked out a split-decision victory over debuting Belgian featherweight Losene Keita, extending his win streak to four against very tricky opposition.
Rising heavyweight Mario Pinto, of Portuguese descent but raised in the English capital, also maintained his undefeated record with a scorecards win against Felipe Franco.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the home fighters, however, with both Louie Sutherland and Shem Rock failing to bounce back from debut losses to go 0-2 in the UFC.
Sutherland was finished early on against Brando Pericic while Rock – another member of Pimblett’s gym Next Generation MMA – was convincingly beaten by Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady, with all three judges scoring the bout 30-27 for the Palestinian.
With his UFC future uncertain, Rock may have found himself in even more hot water after instigating a post-fight scuffle after the buzzer, hitting Al-Selwady in the face after he had refused to shake the Liverpudlian’s hand.
“I don’t really think there’s too much to say about it; I only talk in the cage with my performance,” Al-Sewady said after the fight, who was pushed by a trash-talking Rock at the ceremonial weigh-ins.
“It was a desperate attempt to try to get under my skin. My opponent has been in my DMs for the last month – him and his crew of guys.”
