Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is just one day away from the upcoming UFC London mixed martial arts (MMA) event, which is set to go down tomorrow night (Sat., March 21, 2026) on Paramount+ from inside O2 Arena in London, England. UFC London features a featherweight main event between Top 5 title contenders Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy, a five-round showdown with serious title implications for late 2026 and beyond.
Before we dive into the main and co-main events, which include the featherweight
collision between Luke Riley and Michael Aswell, check out Andrew Richardson’s “X-Factor” breakdown for the rest of the UFC London main card by clicking here. Get all the latest “Evloev vs. Murphy” odds and betting props courtesy of FanDuel right here. For UFC London live results for this weekend’s fight card across the pond click here.
145 lbs.: Movsar Evloev vs. Lerone Murphy
Movsar Evloev
Record: 19-0 | Age: 32 | Betting line: -260
Wins: 3 KO/TKO, 4 SUB, 12 DEC | Losses: 0 KO/TKO, 0 SUB, 0 DEC
Height: 5’7” | Reach: 72” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 3.99 | Striking accuracy: 48%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 2.66 | Striking Defense: 60%
Takedown Average: 4.67 (48% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 61%
Current Ranking: No. 1 | Last fight: Unanimous decision victory over Aljamain Sterling
Lerone “The Iceman” Murphy
Record: 17-0-1 | Age: 34 | Betting line: +210
Wins: 8 KO/TKO, 0 SUB, 9 DEC | Losses: 0 KO/TKO, 0 SUB, 0 DEC
Height: 5’9“ | Reach: 73” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 4.48 | Striking accuracy: 53%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 2.51 | Striking Defense: 61%
Takedown Average: 1.41 (54% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 51%
Current Ranking: No. 3 | Last fight: Knockout win over Aaron Pico
Movsar Evloev is undefeated at 19-0 and probably would have scored a featherweight title shot by now, especially after racking up nine straight wins under the UFC banner, but the Russian featherweight hasn’t competed in over a year and has just four appearances dating back to June 2021. By comparison, No. 6-ranked Jean Silva has fought seven times over the last two years — which includes a victory at UFC 324 back in January — and is already asking for his next assignment. Evloev just doesn’t have any momentum with fans (or matchmakers) and will likely need something other than a tepid decision victory to secure a shot at reigning featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
“The most important thing in this one is victory,” Evloev told Uncrowned. “It doesn’t even matter that this is not a title shot. I don’t even know what’s next. If they tell me that this is not for the No. 1 contender, if they tell me that after this fight: You’re never fighting again. You know, what’s most important is that I’m gonna come out there and I’m gonna do everything that’s in my power to show what level of the game that I’m at, to show what kind of an athlete I am, to show what kind of a fighter I am. I will do anything to claw this victory away because this is the most important thing right now is winning this fight against Lerone Murphy on Saturday.”
For a combatant who averages nearly five takedowns per fight, I’m not sure he would even know how to break out of his rinse-and-repeat offense at this point and to be fair, it keeps getting him to the win column. He’s a competent striker with clean footwork but his ability to control the fight is where Evloev really shines. This marks his first five-round fight in UFC and the first time he’s been asked to go 25 minutes since his knockout victory over Rafael Dias at M-1 Challenge 95: “Battle in the Mountains 7” back in summer 2018. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t expect cardio to be an issue, even with his high-energy output, but we can’t just dismiss his layoff, either. I think the determining factor will be Lerone Murphy’s defense and how hard Evloev has to work to keep “The Iceman” from melting him with a counterstrike.
“We’re doing the five rounds; we’re not getting the hardware for it, but there’s no other way to look at it, as this is what the two champions fighting for the belt would look like,” Evloev continued. “So, with everything that we have to put into this specific fight, I think this is straight up the highest level of the game. Both him and I are looking at this as important as if it was already a fight for the title. If you take away all of the hype and all of the media that’s behind it, if you just look at it as two sportsmen going at it, this is the highest level of the sport. Just on the competition level, there’s no higher level of competition in this division than Lerone Murphy vs. Movsar Evloev right now.”
Lerone Murphy joined the ranks of UFC just a few months after Evloev and surprisingly, has nearly the same amount of fights (10). The 34 year-old Englishman has been a little more consistent in terms of activity but never competes more than twice per year. Perhaps some of the blame falls to matchmakers, who frequently want “The Iceman” featured on London cards, typically held in March and July. Again, we’re trying to build a case for a division title shot and you can’t just brush off fan favorites like Jean Silva when they’re doing more — and doing it more often. Working in Murphy’s favor is his sensational knockout victory over Aaron Pico last August, which may have forgiven his run of five straight (and mostly forgettable) decision wins.
“I’m looking to give everything this Saturday, so I don’t know when I’ll be back in there,” Murphy told MMA Junkie. “But what I would say is regardless of the result, I want to fight active, I want to be active. After the Pico fight, I was screaming for a fight. I thought I was going to fight in December. I’ve been sat out for like six, seven months. So, really and truly, at 34, you don’t really want to be taking them breaks, especially if you’re healthy. For me, I just want to be active. So, I want to try to get back in there regardless, end of summer.”
Murphy is the more technical striker and unlike Evloev, has knockout power. At the same time, he’s only finished three opponents in 10 trips to the Octagon and went to the judges’ scorecards against fighters with a far less punishing offense than Evloev — and nearly lost to Gabriel Santos. The UFC London main event will feature the most combined wins without a loss in UFC history (36), surpassing the Ian Machado Garry vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov fight (33) from UFC 310 back in late 2024. There is a reason they have remained perfect on the big stage for this long and it isn’t from being reckless. That’s a nice way of suggesting this fight could turn into a 25-minute chess match with both sides waiting for the other to make a mistake.
Prediction: Evloev def. Murphy by decision
145 lbs.: Luke Riley vs. Michael Aswell
Luke Riley
Record: 12-0 | Age: 26 | Betting line: -260
Wins: 9 KO/TKO, 0 SUB, 3 DEC | Losses: 0 KO/TKO, 0 SUB, 0 DEC
Height: 5’9“ | Reach: 69” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 2.55 | Striking accuracy: 60%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 1.27 | Striking Defense: 46%
Takedown Average: 0.00 (0% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 42%
Current Ranking: Unranked | Last fight: Knockout win over Bogdan Grad
Michael “The Texas Kid” Aswell
Record: 11-3 | Age: 25 | Betting line: +210
Wins: 6 KO/TKO, 0 SUB, 5 DEC | Losses: 0 KO/TKO, 0 SUB, 3 DEC
Height: 5’8“ | Reach: 69” | Stance: Orthodox
Significant Strikes Landed Per Minute: 9.56 | Striking accuracy: 45%
Strikes Absorbed Per Minute: 7.79 | Striking Defense: 54%
Takedown Average: 0.00 (0% accuracy) | Takedown Defense: 57%
Current Ranking: Unranked | Last fight: Technical knockout win over Lucas Almeida
The UFC co-main event is not unlike the 145-pound headliner, a battle of two outstanding featherweights — one of them undefeated. They just aren’t as far along in their respective careers as Evloev and Murphy but based on what we’ve seen thus far, I wouldn’t be surprised to see either combatant in the Top 15 at some point in the near future. Perhaps more so for Luke Riley, the Cage Warriors phenom with nine knockouts in 12 wins, including his destruction of “Contender Series” graduate Bogdan Grad at UFC Qatar last fall. I don’t know what they put in the water bottles over in Cage Warriors but this is the same promotion that brought us Conor McGregor, Ian Garry, Tom Aspinall, and Paddy Pimblett, among others. Will Riley follow in their respective footsteps? Only time (and tougher competition) will tell.
“I leave it all in the cage,” Riley told UFC.com. “Feel like I’m sort of like an old school throwback sort. I just love to fight, and so I feel like that’s what people like about me. There’s no gimmicks or ballocks. It’s just: I get in the cage and do what I need to do. People don’t realize, like most prospects, we’ve got to start somewhere. Everyone was a prospect in the beginning. So yeah, this is just my beginning, so I want to make it a good one. I feel like they’ll be saying, ‘Now we know why the UFC made him the co-main. He is one of the best prospects in the 145-pound division.’”
Anyone who’s seen him fight is probably already saying that.
Michael Aswell also fought Bogdan Grad back when both combatants were trying to blast their way into UFC by way of Dana White’s “Contender Series” in summer 2024. “The Texas Kid” dropped a close split decision and was sent back down to the regional circuit — but just for one fight. After edging out fellow “Contender Series” castaway Dorian Ramos, Aswell got called up to the big show and now stands at 1-1 inside the Octagon, fresh off a technical knockout victory over Lucas Almeida at UFC Brazil. Like Riley, Aswell doesn’t seem to have much interest in taking his fights to the floor and I’m not expecting UFC London to be any different.
“At the end of the day, we’re both human,” he said. “We both put on our pants one leg at a time, and I’m gonna go in there, and I’m going to do me, and that’s it,” Aswell told UFC.com. “I hope that people just see who I am as a fighter, as a man, and see the heart and determination, and just know that (it) doesn’t matter where you come from, what you’ve been through. (If) you put your mind to something, you tell yourself you’re going to do something, if you put in the work and you keep your head down, you can do it.”
This is shaping up to be “Fight of the Night” and the winner could be the fighter who pays better attention to defense. Riley has been able to get away with his reckless offense (for now) because he hasn’t faced a striker who could exploit the openings. Is Aswell that guy? Probably not, based on what the oddsmakers think, as Aswell has some issues of his own, but who cares? This is the “BMF” style fight we didn’t get at UFC 326 so let’s just sit back and enjoy it.
Prediction: Riley def. Aswell by technical knockout
Don’t forget to check out the rest of the UFC London main card predictions RIGHT HERE.
