UFC London preview and predictions: Movsar Evloev or Lerone Murphy — who earns a title shot?

It's typically a party whenever the UFC ventures to London, England. For this year's first visit, it's all about the featherweights, as either Movsar Evloev or Lerone Murphy will be handed their first career loss. UFC London heavily leans on its main event to attract eyeballs from the MMA community, as most UFC Fight Night events do nowadays.

A recurring theme with these shows in 2026 has been an abundance of heavy favorites, but with Saturday's headliner being a pivotal matchup for the 145-pound division, Evloev gets only the slight oddsmakers' edge despite missing all of last year. Murphy stepped in to capitalize on Evloev's would-be Aaron Pico bout in 2025, scoring the year's best knockout — yet still remained absent from 2026's first featherweight title tilt. There's no promise again of this weekend's main-event winner moving on to challenge UFC champion Alexander Volkanovski, but the matchup appears to be every bit of what you'd want from a true No.

1 contender fight. Also on the card, the perpetually-entertaining Michael "Venom" Page returns home for an oddball pairing against Sam Patterson — and somehow that isn't the co-main event. Those honors belong to undefeated British prospect Luke Riley, who is set to fend off America's Michael Aswell.

Mismatches once again seem likely throughout UFC London. Don't get it twisted, though — the main event is as good as it gets for a non-title fight. 👑 UFC London’s lineup Crown grade: D+.