Russia’s Movsar Evloev crashed the London party in enemy territory on Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 270 at the O2 Arena.
Evloev beat Lerone Murphy by majority decision in an impressive performance in front of a hostile crowd. He (20-0) stays unbeaten in professional boxing. Movsar Evloev has likely punched his ticket to a title fight against Alexander Volkanovski’s featherweight belt.
This bout was an intriguing clash of styles as both fighters put up extraordinary performances to get a fight with Australian Volkanovski for the belt.
In this fight, Evloev tried to showcase his striking. On the other hand, Murphy displayed some superb defensive work on the ground. He evaded some fearsome attacks from his Russian opponent for the first two rounds. Murphy used his stiff right hand to keep him away.
Evloev has been evolving over the years and has added dangerous spinning strikes to his repertoire since his last fight in December 2024. He showed some of those moves in this fight.
Early in the third round, Evloev managed to bring the fight to the mat. However, Murphy was quick to get back to his feet. Murphy completed a spinning kick of his own shortly afterwards.
But, it was Evloev who finished as the strongest in the frame with a big overhand right and multiple strikes in a very short time. However, his momentum was halted when he landed a kick to Murphy’s groin area. Referee Marc Goddard deducted a point from Evloev for the foul.
With this turning point, Evloev turned up the energy in the next round. Because he knew if the fight went to the judges’ scorecards, then this point could prove to be an important one.
In this fifth and final round, he chased a finish with a grappling attack. However, Murphy again was able to get back to his feet with relative ease.
Evloev did not really threaten a submission on the ground, but his efforts in the fight proved to be enough to get a result in his favor.
