diff --git a/src/Factory.php b/src/Factory.php
index 9a481e35..271c2654 100644
--- a/src/Factory.php
+++ b/src/Factory.php
@@ -7,12 +7,13 @@ class Factory
     public static function create()
     {
         // @codeCoverageIgnoreStart
-        if (function_exists('event_base_new')) {
-            return new LibEventLoop();
-        } elseif (class_exists('libev\EventLoop', false)) {
+        if (class_exists('libev\EventLoop', false)) {
             return new LibEvLoop;
         } elseif (class_exists('EventBase', false)) {
             return new ExtEventLoop;
+        } elseif (function_exists('event_base_new') && PHP_VERSION_ID < 70000) {
+            // only use ext-libevent on PHP < 7 for now
+            return new LibEventLoop();
         }
 
         return new StreamSelectLoop();