Tom Aspinall tipped the scales almost a stone lighter than his heavyweight title win today ahead of his first defense of the interim belt.
The hometown hero faces Curtis Blaydes, who handed him his sole UFC loss back in 2022, with his interim world heavyweight title on the line this Saturday. Their bout serves as the co-main event of UFC 304 just before Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad’s welterweight title fight.
There was minimal drama at weigh-ins as all four of the world title contenders made weight relatively early. Other fan favourites such as Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann also made weight without any issues.
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Tom Aspinall drops 10lb ahead of UFC 304 co-main event
After suffering a freak injury against Curtis Blaydes in 2022, Tom Aspinall returned to action almost a year to the day later. Since his return, he has stayed closer to the 265lb heavyweight limit, coming in at 258lb against Marcin Tybura and over 261lb for his interim title challenge against Sergei Pavlovich.
But he has been intensive while training for this rematch, and it showed as he appeared in great shape on the scales this afternoon at the official weigh-ins for UFC 304. He weighed in at 251lb, exactly the same as he did for that initial meeting with Blaydes.
The challenger tipped the scales at 256lb, just a little lighter than the 260lb he was when they first met and a pound less than his last outing against Jailton Almeida in March.
It’s quite the difference from early in his UFC run when he once needed the one-pound allowance as he came in 265.5lb for a 2016 bout with Cody East.
UFC 304 weigh-in results as just one fighter misses weight
The sole weight miss of the day came for Jake Hadley, who has stepped in on a few days’ notice to face Irish prospect Caolan Loughran and was 137lb, just one over the extended bantamweight limit. Both men have agreed for the fight to go ahead with Loughran receiving a percentage of his rival’s purse.
Other fighters including Muhammad Mokaev and Alice Ardelean needed the towel to make weight, but did so and are signed off to compete. All fighters will face off at a ceremonial weigh-in in Manchester tonight.
The full weigh-in results are as follows:
- Leon Edwards (170) vs. Belal Muhammad (169)
- Tom Aspinall (251) vs. Curtis Blaydes (256)
- King Green (154.5) vs. Paddy Pimblett (156)
- Christian Leroy Duncan (185) vs. Gregory Rodrigues (185)
- Arnold Allen (145) vs. Giga Chikadze (146)
- Daniel Pineda (146) vs. Nathaniel Wood (145)
- Bruna Brasil (116) vs. Molly McCann (116)
- Jake Hadley (137)* vs. Caolan Loughran (136)
- Modestas Bukauskas (204) vs. Marcin Prachnio (205)
- Oban Elliott (170) vs. Preston Parsons (169)
- Manel Kape (125.5) vs. Muhammad Mokaev (126)
- Kiefer Crosbie (171) vs. Sam Patterson (170)
- Lukasz Brzeski (235) vs. Mick Parkin (264)
- Alice Ardelean (116) vs. Shauna Bannon (115)
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