Brendan Miller
UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards and interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall will defend their titles at home. Leon Edwards faces Belal Muhammad in the main event and Aspinall faces Curtis Blaydes in the co-main event of UFC 304 in Manchester on Saturday, July 27.
UFC president Dana White announced this Thursday the pair of rematches between the English champions, as well as three additional fights on the pay-per-view card.
Edwards makes his third welterweight title defense against Muhammad in a rematch of their March 2021 fight. The first meeting between Edwards and Muhammad ended in a disappointing no contest after an accidental poke from Edwards just 18 seconds into the second round. Edwards entered this fight on an eight-fight winning streak, marking the first time he has entered the Octagon and left without a hand raised since December 2015.
Edwards continued without a contest with a decision win over Nate Diaz that gave him his first shot at UFC gold, a shot that was years in the making. Despite being dominated for much of the UFC 278 fight by longtime champion Kamaru Usman, Edwards seized the opportunity by knocking him out with a head kick with just 56 seconds remaining in the final round.
Edwards successfully defended his title with a strong showing in the rematch against Usman at UFC 286 before making his second successful defense with a one-sided decision against Colby Covington.
Muhammad shares a similar path to title contention with Edwards. For years, Muhammad was a legitimate title contender without receiving an opportunity, while less deserving men – like Covington – were given championship chances.
Setting aside the no contest due to a poke in his first meeting with Edwards, Muhammad has won nine consecutive trips to the Octagon, including victories over four former title challengers. His last defeat came in January 2019.
In his most recent fight, Muhammad scored a big victory, dominating Gilbert Burns by decision in the five-round co-main event of UFC 288.
Aspinall makes the first defense of the interim heavyweight title, for which he defeated Sergei Pavlovich in a short time, at UFC 295, in November. Aspinall has repeatedly asked to unify his title with heavyweight champion Jon Jones. The UFC is adamant that Jones will make his first title defense against former champion Stipe Miocic, a fight that has been years in the making. Aspinall relents and fights again as the seemingly never-ending Jones-Miocic saga unfolds. Aspinall is only the fourth fighter in UFC history to defend an interim title, joining Andrei Arlovski, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Renan Barão.
Blaydes is the only person to defeat Aspinall in the last eight years, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Aspinall suffered a knee injury 15 seconds into the Fight Night main event against Blaydes. The challenger has been on the verge of a title shot for six years, but always falls short when it matters most. UFC 304 is a long time coming for Blaydes, who recently beat Jailton Almeida.
The other fights announced are Bobby Green x Paddy Pimblett, Muhammad Mokaev x Manel Kape and Arnold Allen x Giga Chikadze. Expectations are that the trash talk will reach fever pitch when Green and Pimblett get their hands on the microphones. Mokaev and Kape could be a challenger for the flyweight title and Allen vs. Chikadze is a clash between strong featherweight contenders.
