UFC 304 LIVE: Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall fight updates and results tonight

Belal Muhammad unflinching in UFC 304 face-off with Leon Edwards

UFC 304 will take place in Manchester tonight, as British champions Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall defend their titles in intriguing rematches.

In the main event, welterweight king Edwards defends his belt against Belal Muhammad, three years after fighting the Palestinian-American to a No Contest. In their first meeting, Edwards accidentally landed an eye poke, leading the bout to be halted.

Edwards – Jamaican-born and representing Birmingham – regained momentum and won the 170lb title with a stunning knockout of Kamaru Usman in 2022, before retaining the gold against Usman and Colby Covington last year. The 32-year-old is unbeaten in 13 fights across nine years.

In tonight’s co-main event, Aspinall puts the interim heavyweight title on the line against Curtis Blaydes, two years after suffering a knee injury against the American – just 15 seconds into that clash in London. Wigan’s Aspinall, 31, has otherwise been perfect in the UFC and claimed the interim strap with a knockout of Sergei Pavlovich in November.

Typically an interim champion would challenge the regular title holder next, but Jon Jones is injured and the UFC is refusing to strip him of his belt – instead insisting that “Bones” will defend his title against Stipe Miocic next, as was planned last year.

Elsewhere at UFC 304, Paddy Pimblett, Molly McCann, Muhammad Mokaev and Arnold Allen are among the many British names in action. Follow live updates and results from UFC 304, below.

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UFC 304 LIVE: Shauna Bannon vs Alice Ardelean

Right then, UFC 304 is under way! We start with a women’s bantamweight fight, between Ireland’s Shauna Bannon and Romania’s Alice Ardelean.

Alex Pattle27 July 2024 23:02

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UFC 304 LIVE: Dana White announces UFC 306 fights for Las Vegas’s Sphere event

In other news, UFC president Dana White announced a cluster of fights for September’s pay-per-view event last night.

On Saturday 14 September, the UFC will host an event at the Sphere in Las Vegas for the first time, as UFC 306 plays out on Mexican Independence weekend.

Here are the fights announced so far:

Sean O’Malley (C) vs Merab Dvalishvili (men’s bantamweight title)

Alexa Grasso (C) vs Valentina Shevchenko 3 (women’s flyweight title)

Brian Ortega vs Diego Lopes (featherweight)

Raul Rosas Jr vs Aoriqileng (bantamweight)

Irene Aldana vs Norma Dumont (women’s bantamweight)

Manuel Torres vs Ignacio Bahamondes (lightweight)

Edgar Chairez vs Kevin Borjas (flyweight)

Ronaldo Rodriguez vs Ode’ Osbourne (flyweight)

Yazmin Jauregui vs Ketlen Souza (women’s strawweight)

Sean O’Malley before his UFC title win over Aljamain Sterling in 2023
Sean O’Malley before his UFC title win over Aljamain Sterling in 2023 (Getty Images)

Alex Pattle27 July 2024 22:59

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UFC 304 LIVE: Where do Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall rank on our pound-for-pound list?

Alex Pattle27 July 2024 22:57

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UFC 304 LIVE: Tom Aspinall lighter than challenger Curtis Blaydes ahead of rematch

Wigan’s Aspinall tipped the scales at 251lb, after Blaydes weighed in at 256lb for their co-main event.

It is not necessarily surprising that Aspinall will be the lighter of the pair tonight; the Briton is known for his unusual speed at heavyweight, and he weighed the same when he first fought Blaydes, who was 260lb for their first fight.

Also at Friday’s weigh-in, Leon Edwards successfully weighed in at 170lb, as the first fighter on the scales, before opponent Belal Muhammad came in at 169lb.

Elsewhere at the UFC 304 weigh-ins, every fighter made weight except Jake Hadley. The Briton came in one pound overweight, at 137lb, for his bantamweight clash with Caolan Loughran.

Hadley, who is stepping in on short notice to face the Irishman, has been fined 20 per cent of his purse.

Alex Pattle27 July 2024 22:50

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UFC 304 LIVE: Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad open up on elevator confrontation

That same day, the UFC posted the latest episode of its usual pre-fight docu-series, Embedded, on YouTube. The episode ended with Edwards entering an elevator and engaging in a tense staredown with his Palestinian-American opponent.

“Remember The Name!” Edwards said, referencing Muhammad’s nickname. “Come on, boys. Slide in, boys,” he added, seemingly speaking to members of his own team.

Here’s what happened next, and what each fighter had to say about it:

Alex Pattle27 July 2024 22:30

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UFC 304 LIVE: Aspinall and Edwards aim to right the strangest of wrongs – preview

So, catharsis for both Britons – the second and third from their nation to hold titles in UFC history – right? Almost. But not yet.

Alex Pattle27 July 2024 22:10

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UFC 304 LIVE: Aspinall and Edwards aim to right the strangest of wrongs – preview

For Tom Aspinall, it was in the knee: the sharp, sudden cruelty of ligaments tearing. For Leon Edwards, it was under the eyelid – but not his own: instead it was under Belal Muhammad’s, as Edwards’s outstretched finger snuck between the banks of flesh and jabbed at the eyeball.

For Aspinall, it meant a TKO loss to Curtis Blaydes in London. It was an injury that took just 15 seconds to sustain, but which would keep him out of the cage for a year. A whole different sort of caged for the Wigan heavyweight. For Edwards, it meant a No Contest against Muhammad. It was an indiscretion that would cost the Jamaican-born Birmingham fighter a win, and a shot at the welterweight title. Like Aspinall, it would also cost him the best part of a year of his career.

Alex Pattle27 July 2024 21:50

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UFC 304 LIVE: Fight card in full, featuring Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann

Leon Edwards (C) vs Belal Muhammad 2 (welterweight title)

Tom Aspinall (C) vs Curtis Blaydes 2 (interim heavyweight title)

Bobby King Green vs Paddy Pimblett (lightweight)

Muhammad Mokaev vs Manel Kape (flyweight)

Arnold Allen vs Giga Chikadze (featherweight)

Nathaniel Wood vs Daniel Pineda (featherweight)

Molly McCann vs Bruna Brasil (women’s strawweight)

Caolan Loughran vs Jake Hadley (bantamweight)

Mick Parkin vs Lukasz Brzeski (heavyweight)

Oban Elliott vs Preston Parsons (welterweight)

Christian Leroy Duncan vs Gregory Rodrigues (middleweight)

Sam Patterson vs Kiefer Crosbie (welterweight)

Shauna Bannon vs Alice Ardelean (women’s bantamweight)

Modestas Bukauskas vs Marcin Prachnio (light-heavyweight)

Alex Pattle27 July 2024 21:30

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UFC 304 LIVE: How to watch fights tonight

The card will air live on TNT Sports in the UK, with the broadcaster’s app and website also streaming the fights. Discovery+ will also air the action in the UK. In the US, ESPN+ will stream the event live on pay-per-view, as will the UFC’s Fight Pass.

If you’re travelling abroad and want to watch the event, you might need a VPN to unblock your streaming app. Our VPN round-up is here to help and includes deals on VPNs in the market. Viewers using a VPN need to make sure that they comply with any local regulations where they are and also with the terms of their service provider.

We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

Alex Pattle27 July 2024 21:10

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UFC 304 LIVE: When do fights start and why are they so late?

UFC 304 is scheduled to take place at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester, UK, tonight.

The early prelims are due to begin at 11.15pm BST (3.15pm PT / 5.15pm CT / 6.15pm ET), with the regular prelims following at 1am BST on Sunday (5pm PT / 7pm CT / 8pm ET on Saturday). The main card is then set to start at 3am BST on Sunday (7pm PT / 9pm CT / 10pm ET on Saturday).

Alex Pattle27 July 2024 20:50

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