Movsar Evloev defeated Lerone Murphy via majority decision in the main event of UFC London on Saturday, in a featherweight bout that sparked debate over the scoring. The judges scored it 48-46, 48-46, and 47-47 in favour of the Russian, handing Murphy his first professional loss.
The first three rounds were closely contested on the feet, with Manchester's Murphy arguably holding a slight edge. Evloev, known for his wrestling, surprisingly neglected that aspect early on. In the fourth round, Evloev reverted to his strengths but was docked a point for a second hard low blow. Despite the point deduction, two judges still gave him the fight.
With the win, Evloev remains unbeaten at 20-0 and may now be next in line for featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. However, his last three victories—over Arnold Allen, Aljamain Sterling, and Murphy—have all been close decisions that could have gone either way.
In the co-main event, Liverpool's Luke Riley moved to 2-0 in the UFC with a unanimous decision win over Michael Aswell Jr (30-27, 30-27, 30-27). Meanwhile, Michael 'Venom' Page defeated Sam Patterson via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) in an underwhelming all-British bout.
Other notable results included Christian Leroy Duncan's unanimous decision over Roman Dolidze, Nathaniel Wood's split decision win over Losene Keita, and Shanelle Dyer's second-round TKO of Ravena Oliveira. The event also featured a quick first-round knockout by Iwo Baraniewski over Austen Lane in just 28 seconds.
