UFC London Preview

The O2 Arena will play host to London’s 17th UFC event on Saturday as Birmingham’s own Lerone Murphy and Movsar Evloev are both on the hunt for potential championship gold in the featherweight division.

Last summer at UFC 319, Murphy was able to dispatch Bellator star Aaron Pico inside a single round with a back-spinning elbow knockout blow in the American’s UFC debut.

On the other hand, it’s been slightly longer since Movsar Evloev has wrapped up his hands and made the walk to the octagon.
Aljamain Sterling was the latest victim of his grappling prowess, all the way back in December 2024 at UFC 310.

Both Evloev and Murphy have a genuine claim to the featherweight throne, more so than anyone else weighing 145lbs. Alexander Volkanovski, who’s sitting on top of the food chain with the gold, will most likely face whoever walks out of the cage victorious on Saturday evening.

Further down the card, kicking off the main card, is Kurtis Campbell vs Danny Silva.

Campbell**, nicknamed “The Pink Panther”, hails from the fighting republic of Merseyside, and will be competing in front of a home crowd for his first UFC bout.
The 23-year-old made a great first impression on Dana White’s Contender Series with a first-round stoppage win over Demba Seck in September last year.

He is set to face Danny Silva, who last stepped inside the octagon against Kevin Vallejos last summer. The Californian is 2-1 in the UFC and will be looking to correct his wrongs**, Silva is a tough competitor who’s expected to test Campbell early on in his UFC career.

Next up, Roman Dolidze will face Christian Leroy Duncan in a middleweight bout that fans should be keeping their eyes on.

In 2025, CLD went 3-0 in the UFC, putting on impressive displays against Marco Tulio and a recently retired Eryk Anders, adding a spinning elbow finish and a spinning back fist to his repertoire.

Roman Dolidze, on the other hand, is coming off a loss against Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez after the American secured a rear-naked choke, forcing the Georgian to tap in the fourth round of the fight.

Should CLD be able to get it done on Saturday night, he finally might see his name in the rankings, and should Dolidze get the job done, he may just put himself into the middleweight conversation towards the later stages of his career.

Iwo Baraniewski will then take on Austen Lane in a fight that I would seriously suggest not blinking during.

Iwo’s first fight in the UFC, against İbo Aslan, earned him a Performance of the Night bonus at UFC 323. During the Polish man’s whole career in Mixed Martial Arts, he’s never seen the end of the first round, finishing every opponent quickly and racking up 7 wins and 0 losses.

Austen Lane shouldn’t provide too much of a test for Iwo, with his only victory coming against Robelis Despaigne.

If Iwo is to make quick work again against Austen, we may just be looking at someone with a fast-track pass to success in the light-heavyweight division.

Next up, the only fight with two Englishmen commences with Michael ‘Venom’ Page stepping into the cage next as he goes against the unranked Sam Patterson in the welterweight division.

Page doesn’t seem all too happy with the UFC and the handling of this matchup. Since switching between the welterweight and middleweight divisions, he’s been handed fights outside of what he deems he should be getting.

He told the media: “Since my last fight I've been asking for absolutely everybody and for different reasons it seems no one is willing to take the fight. Definitely not a fight I wanted. I'm not sure what winning a fight like this means outside of a potential highlight reel”.

Is it possible for Patterson to take the wind out of Page’s sails this weekend and maybe even boost his name into an already stacked divisional picture?

Liverpool’s Next Gen gym’s latest attraction, Luke Riley, will be fighting in the co-main event of UFC London in his second ever UFC bout against Michael Aswell, who has a 2-1 record inside of the UFC octagon.

Riley put on a great performance out in Qatar last time against Bogdan Grad, dropping Grad in the second round of their fight.

Aswell’s last fight ended with a win against Lucas Almeida out in Brazil, Almeida looked shot and way out of his depth.

If Riley can do the same again, we could be looking at a future star of the lightweight division.

UFC London 2026 looks to be a brilliant event with some real divisional defining matchups involved. Can Murphy position himself as top dog in his home nation or will Evloev grapple his way to a victory stealing the show?

Also read: Sam Patterson blocks out the noise ahead of UFC London