The O2 Arena witnessed plenty of interesting results on its fight night, with many eye-catching prospects victorious.
There were a total of four finishes at UFC London, all by KO/TKO, plus one fight that received a Fight of the Night (FOTN) bonus, which was highly deserved based on the crowd reaction.
But once again, another UK event ended in heartbreak for a Briton; not many in the MMA community believed the #1 contender was the rightful winner.
Here is everything that happened at UFC London, including the results from all the bouts, as well as details on the headliner and co-main event.
Russia gets one over England in debatable style
A featherweight title eliminator was always going to attract plenty of MMA fans, as everyone wanted to know who was likely to challenge Alexander Volkanovski next.
Movsar Evloev made his return after more than 400 days outside of the Octagon, winning his last battle by unanimous decision against former UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling.
Lerone Murphy was eyeing the chance to become the indefinite #1 contender of the 145-pound division after entering title contention with a first-round knockout against Aaron Pico.
Many predicted the five-round war would go the distance, but it was just predicting who would lose their unbeaten MMA records, as neither man had ever lost.
For the first two rounds, ‘The Miracle’ was just managing to get the better of the Russian by throwing and landing more strikes.
Evloev looked to have done just enough in the third round, before being deducted a point in round four after landing two accidental illegal groin strikes despite doing better in the round.
The #1 featherweight contender showed dominance in the fifth as he landed five takedowns with an occasional ground and pound to end the fight positively on his side.
For many, it seemed the judges would sway their decision toward Murphy or a draw, especially given the deducted point in the fourth round, but that wasn’t the case, as Evloev walked away with a majority decision win, which hasn’t gone down well with many UK fans.
Riley extends undefeated record
Two rather young mixed martial artists went head-to-head as they looked for their second victory in the organisation.
Luke Riley made his UFC debut prior to his co-headliner in London as he snatched a second-round TKO win against Bogdan Grad at UFC Qatar.
Michael Aswell Jr triumphed in his second UFC appearance with a first-round TKO win in enemy territory over Lucas Almeida at UFC Rio.
Both fighters are strikers, so it was bound to be a back-and-forth battle on the feet, with the contest going to a decision or ending by knockout.
The first round saw the American be far more active with his striking, landing more shots despite receiving more significant strikes.
Riley picked up the pace in the second round as he found his range and was striking more accurately, which caused problems for Aswell Jr.
In the final five minutes, the Englishman cruised his way to the end with more significant strikes, despite ‘The Texas Kid’ landing a takedown which wouldn’t result in any advantage.
The 26-year-old won on home soil by unanimous decision as he increased his undefeated record to 13 victories, becoming a hotter prospect at 145 pounds.
Other Highlights from UFC London
While it wasn’t a crowd-pleaser, Michael ‘Venom’ Page made three successive wins after defeating Sam Patterson by unanimous decision, keeping his spot at #13 in the welterweight rankings.
Iwo Baraniewski made himself a bigger fan-favourite in the UFC after producing a 28-second knockout against Austen Lane to maintain his undefeated run in MMA.
Christian Leroy Duncan enters the middleweight top 15 after going the distance with #11 contender Roman Dolidze to win by unanimous decision and increased his win streak to four.
Danny Silva returned to the win column and earned his first UFC finish, winning by second-round TKO and giving Kurtis Campbell the first loss of his professional career.
Mason Jones went into a three-round war with Axel Sola and was victorious by unanimous decision as the featured prelim clash received the FOTN bonus.
Nathaniel Wood did just enough in his striking battle with UFC debutant Losene Keita to succeed by split decision, making it four consecutive wins in UK events for ‘The Last Kingsman’.
Mario Pinto slightly struggled against his short-notice opponent, Felipe Franco, but still excelled with a unanimous decision victory to stay undefeated.
Mantas Kondratavicius dominated on his UFC debut with a unanimous decision win against Antonio Trocoli as the Lithuanian went the distance for the first time in his career.
Brando Pericic delivered an upset at the O2 Arena as he stopped Louie Sutherland by first-round TKO in what was a one-round slugfest.
Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady claimed his first win in the UFC after beating Shem Rock in enemy territory by unanimous decision.
Shanelle Dyer began the event with English delight as ‘The Nightmare’ secured a second-round TKO win on her UFC debut against Ravena Oliveira.