UFC London: Leron Murphy and Movsar Ivlov in a cold stare ahead of their featherweight fight

Lerone Murphy and Movsar Evloev shared a cold stare as the duo faced off ahead of their UFC London featherweight bout at the O2 Arena on Saturday.

Fans applauded Manchester fighter Murphy warmly as he took to the stage, while Russian Ivlov was booed before they went head-to-head in a tense confrontation.

The fight saw both athletes put their unbeaten records on the line, with Murphy, 34, unbeaten in 18 bouts, and Ivlov winning all 19 of his bouts.

“Ready for war,” Murphy said. “That’s it – simple.”

Evloev, 32, had a calm and collected personality, as he had throughout fight week despite only arriving on Wednesday, before answering: “He’s not ready for war – I’ll show that tomorrow.”

Perhaps in a statement of intent, Murphy was first on the scales out of every fighter on the card during the morning’s official weigh-ins, registering 145 pounds (10 3st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 4 1st 1st 4 1st 4 lbs weighing in weigh on the card.

Murphy wasn’t serenaded by fans like British UFC London stars like Tom Aspinall and Paddy Pimblett had fought in previous years, but it allowed him to maintain his focus as he shadow-worked while waiting for Ivlov to arrive.

The fight between Murphy and Ivlov will help determine the next challenger to Alexander Volkanovski’s featherweight title, although it is not classified as a top contender fight by the UFC.

Murphy is third in the UFC featherweight rankings with Ivlov first, but sixth-ranked Jean Silva has indicated he may also jump the queue to fight Volkanovski.

The Brazilian was at bantamweight, interacting with fans, and will be cageside on Saturday.

Murphy’s last fight ended in stunning fashion as the Mancunian knocked out Aaron Biko with an elbow to put himself in title contention.

But instead, the UFC matched Volkanovski with No. 2 seed Diego Lopez, whom the champion had beaten 10 months earlier — a move that Murphy says “woke me up to a lot of things.”