UFC London went down this past weekend (Sat., March 21, 2026) inside O2 Arena in London, England, leaving several fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Austen Lane, who was knocked out by Iwo Baraniewski in just 28 seconds (see it again here).
And Antonio Trocoli, who lost his fourth straight fight inside the Octagon after coming up short against Mantas Kondratavicius. But, which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Lerone Murphy.
Coming into his pivotal headlining bout against Movsar Evloev, Murphy was looking to lock down a future 145-pound title fight against division kingpin, Alexander Volkanovski, all while keeping his undefeated record intact. Heading into the fight, Murphy had won nine straight inside the Octagon, including his most recent knockout win over Aaron Pico at UFC 319 (see it again here).
For 25 minutes, Evloev and Murphy put it all on the line, with each man having shining moments throughout. It was competitive, even though it may not have been the most exciting. In the end, the judges awarded Evloev a unanimous decision win, which left some baffled. UFC CEO, Dana White, was not one of those people, however, feeling the judges got it right. In the end, Evloev moved onto a possible title fight, while Murphy suffered the bitter taste of his first defeat and must now go back to the drawing board.
Despite the setback, not all is lost for Murphy because he is just 34 years of age, has the skills to get back on another run and the defeat wasn’t a complete shutout or a knockout, so he won’t fall too far down the rankings, where he currently owns the No.3 spot.
As far as what is next for Murphy, a fight against Diego Lopes would have made all of the sense in the world, but thr former two-time title challenger is pegged to face Steve Garcia at UFC’s White House event in June, for whatever reason. That said, a showdown against Yair Rodrigues sounds appealing. Rodriguez has not seen the inside of the Octagon since defeating Patricio Freire almost one year ago.
There is no telling if (and when) the Mexican-born fighter plans to return, but it should be sometime soon. Murphy didn’t seem to be to banged up after his loss to Evloev, so a quick turnaround could be realistic for him, perhaps in the summer. Rodriguez is a great stylistic matchup for Murphy, and a win over “El Pantera” could get him back into the championship picture sooner rather than later.
