Dana White has just confirmed five massive fights for UFC 304 in Manchester, including two title fights involving Tom Aspinall and Leon Edwards.
After months of speculation, Dana White has finally confirmed that UFC 304 in Manchester will feature both British champions; and for the first time in recent memory, both the main and co-main events will be rematches – albeit this time with two shiny gold belts on the line.
Dana White confirms five enormous fights for UFC 304 in Manchester
Taking to social media earlier today, Dana White confirmed that UFC 304 in Manchester will be headlined by Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards defending his welterweight title ahead of Tom Aspinall, who is set to defend his interim heavyweight belt in the co-main event of the evening.
Edwards will face long-term rival Belal Muhammad in a rematch of their 2021 clash, which ended in a No Contest after ‘Remember the Name’ suffered a nasty-looking eye poke at the end of the second round.
Aspinall will also be facing an old foe in his own highly-anticipated rematch against Curtis ‘Razor’ Blaydes – Aspinall’s knee injury remains the only defeat he’s suffered in the UFC en route to interim glory.
Also announced for the July 27th card in Manchester is Bobby Green vs Paddy Pimblett, top flyweight contender Muhammad Mokaev vs Manel Kape, and the return of Arnold Allen against the ever-dangerous Giga Chikadze.
Tom Aspinall shares immediate reaction to UFC 304 title fight
Sharing his reaction via his official YouTube channel, Aspinall celebrated the announcement even though the title fight isn’t an undisputed one against current champion Jon Jones:
“So, the fight has finally been announced and I’m very, very happy about it – I am an MMA fighter and the last thing I want to do is hold up a division, I see the comments but that’s not me – that’s someone else at the top.”
Aspinall explained how “It’s a bit of a strange conundrum in my division” since “usually when the champion is coming back, the interim usually fights the champ [but] Jon Jones is holding s*** up let’s be honest.”
“He’s playing games so [it’s] me and Curtis Blaydes.”
“Now it’s time to get a bit of payback so I’m very, very, very motivated for this one. If I’m not going to fight Jon, which obviously isn’t going to happen right now, this is the ideal situation.”
The British juggernaut also took a swipe at former interim title holder Ciryl Gane, who reportedly turned down an offer to fight Aspinall due to his commitments to filming a movie back home in France:
“Ciryl’s trying to be the French Arnold Schwarzenegger right now and fair play to him, if he wants to do films and be an actor then go ahead and enjoy yourself… But he didn’t take the fight, he wanted to do his film.”
“I want to be as active as possible, I’m not in my prime yet but I’m healthy and I want to fight people, it’s not always as easy as just ‘Oh look for a fight and get it’.”
Back to UFC 304 and the opportunity to show out in front of his home fans, Aspinall is unsurprisingly chomping at the bit to get back into the octagon:
“This is what dreams are made of, I’m a Manchester guy born and bred, this is what I got into the sport for, to have 25,000 screaming Manchester fans when I’m defending a title – that’s unreal and I’m very much looking forward to it.”
Bittersweet reaction from fans to the UFC 304 announcement
UFC 304 at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester has already experienced its fair share of controversy and backlash; even with the announcement of five outstanding fights, fans are demanding that Dana White make some major changes behind the scenes.
This is primarily down to the fact that the PPV event is set for a prime-time American audience with the main card scheduled to start at 3 AM local time, a horrific timetable for both fans in the arena and the fighters who will be clashing at such a late hour.
UFC 304 goes down on July 27 from the new Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England.