UFC London takes centre stage at The O2 Arena tonight with UFC Fight Night: Evloev vs Murphy.

The world’s leading mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion is back on UK soil for its annual visit this evening, headlined by an intriguing and hugely consequential showdown in the men’s featherweight division.

Manchester’s Lerone Murphy tops the bill against Russian Movsar Evloev in what has been labelled as an eliminator for the 145-pound title currently held by UFC legend Alexander Volkanovski.

Murphy is currently the No3-ranked featherweight in the UFC, separated from No1 Evloev by Diego Lopes, who has been unsuccessful in two title challenges over the past year – including at UFC 325 in Sydney last month.

‘The Miracle’ will be looking for another statement performance on home territory to take him to a first title shot, having knocked out formidable former Bellator standout Aaron Pico in sensational fashion with a spinning back elbow in the first round of his last fight at UFC 319 in Chicago last summer.

Such an emphatic victory – after which he quickly called out ‘Volk’- was made more impressive still by the fact that he accepted the fight on short notice, with Pico’s hotly-anticipated debut supposed to have come the previous month against Evloev.

That made it 18 fights unbeaten in professional MMA for Murphy, who has nine successive wins since drawing against Zubaira Tukhugov on his UFC debut in 2019.

Evloev is also undefeated, but has not fought since December 2024 after injury ruled him out of facing Pico. His last visit to the octagon was in a decision win over former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 310.

There is more British interest on the main card in the form of Liverpool’s Luke Riley, a team-mate of Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett at the Next Generation Gym who is in the co-main event against American Michael Aswell.

It is only a second contest in the UFC for Riley, the former Cage Warriors star who knocked out Bogdan Grad in Qatar in November.