The UFC returns to England on Sunday as fierce rivals Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad battle it out in a blockbuster title bout to cap off a stacked card.
Edwards will be defending his welterweight crown against Muhammad in the UFC 304 main event, which is scheduled to take place in Manchester at 5.30am local time (2.30pm AEST).
It is obviously not ideal for England’s UFC fans, with the fights scheduled to cater for an American audience.
Despite that, Edwards and Muhammad will make their octagon walks in front of a packed 23,500-capacity crowd in the first sporting event to take place at Co-op Live since its opening in May.
UFC 304: EDWARDS V MUHAMMAD 2 | SUN 28 JULY 12PM AEST | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View.
‘It was a blessing in disguise for me’ | 07:10
“All these boos tomorrow are going to be tears,” Muhammad said at Saturday’s final face-off before the fight.
“Head shot, dead. Your boy is going to sleep. And new, inshallah. That’s my family right there, that’s all I care about. The rest of you guys, tomorrow night, cry about it. It’s over for you guys! England is going to lose again.”
There is clearly no love lost between the pair, with Edwards telling Manchester to “forget” what Muhammad says and instead know that on Sunday he is “as good as dead”.
“He’s too slow, too small, I’m knocking him the f***,” he said.
Edwards and Muhammad first fought in March 2021, with that bout ending a no-contest after the latter suffered an eye poke.
Edwards has been on a rapid rise since that point, winning the belt from Kamaru Usman after a walk-off head kick and he has defended his championship twice since that point.
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Elsewhere, there is another rematch in the co-main event as interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall faces off against Curtis Blaydes for the first time since their fight in July 2022.
Aspinall suffered a knee injury just 15 seconds into that bout but has recovered from that setback to win back-to-back fights and will now defend his interim heavyweight title against Blaydes, who knocked out Jailton Almeida in his last fight.
One of the other intriguing bouts on the card sees the rapidly rising Paddy Pimblett look to extend his seven-fight win streak against King Green while Muhammad Mokaev will aim to further establish himself as a flyweight contender with a victory over Manel Kape.
WHAT TIME DOES UFC 304 START?
The early prelims get underway at 8am AEST, with the preliminary card kicking off at 10am and main card scheduled to being at 12pm.
Edwards and Muhammad are then expected to make their octagon walks at around 2.30pm, depending how long the earlier fights last.
HOW TO WATCH UFC 304
You can watch UFC 304 by ordering it now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View.
UFC 304 FIGHT CARD
Main card
Leon Edwards (c) vs. Belal Muhammad, welterweight title
Tom Aspinall (ic) vs. Curtis Blaydes, interim heavyweight title
King Green vs. Paddy Pimblett, lightweights
Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Gregory Rodrigues, middleweights
Arnold Allen vs. Giga Chikadze, featherweights
Prelims
Nathaniel Wood vs. Daniel Pineda, featherweights
Molly McCann vs. Bruna Brasil, women’s strawweights
Caolan Loughran vs. Jake Hadley, bantamweights
Modestas Bukauskas vs. Marcin Prachnio, light heavyweights
Early prelims
Preston Parsons vs. Oban Elliott, welterweights
Muhammad Mokaev vs. Manel Kape, flyweights
Sam Patterson vs. Kiefer Crosbie, welterweights
Mick Parkin vs. Lukasz Brzeski, heavyweights
Shauna Bannon vs. Alice Ardelean, women’s strawweights
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Source Agencies
