Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammad 2 to main event UFC 304, Curtis Blaydes vs Tom Aspinall 2 set for co-main
The UFC is heading to Manchester for UFC 304 and the just announced main card will feature two title fights as rematches. UFC CEO Dana White announced on social media on Thursday that two rematches will serve as the marquee matchups for UFC 304 which will take place on July 27, from the Co-op Arena in Manchester. In the main event, welterweight champion Leon Edwards will run it back against Belal Muhammad as the two look to settle the score from their 2021 fight which ended in a no-contest due to an accidental eye poke.
This main event title fight will feature two fighters on a very impressive win streaks, as the champion, Edwards, will come in on a 12-fight winning streak, having not lost since his first matchup against Kamaru Usman in 2015. After winning the title from Usman in 2022, Edwards has since defended it against the former champion in a trilogy fight and Colby Covington after that.
Belal Muhammad is unbeaten in his last 10 fights, with a 9-fight winning streak to his credit, including wins over Gilbert Burns, Sean Brady, Vicente Luque, and Stephen Thompson in his last four fights. Facing Edwards will also present the first title fight opportunity for Muhammad, who has 14 career victories since joining the UFC in 2016.
In the co-main event of UFC 304, the heavyweight interim title will be on the line as champion Tom Aspinall will run it back against contender Curtis Blaydes. Back in 2022, Blaydes and Aspinall were featured in the main event which lasted all of 15 seconds before Aspinall suffered a knee injury. Upon returning from injury, Aspinall would defeat Marcin Tybura in his return and then Sergei Pavlovich in the interim title fight back in November of last year.
After his big win over rising prospect Jailton Almeida at UFC 299, Blaydes told MyMMANews that he believed mutual respect would lead to an eventual matchup against Aspinall for the interim heavyweight title.
The entire main card for UFC 304 was announced by Dana White on Thursday and is listed as follows:
- Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammad 2 (Welterweight title fight)
- Tom Aspinall vs Curtis Blaydes 2 (Heavyweight title fight)
- Paddy Pimblett vs Bobby Green
- Muhammad Mokaev vs Manel Kape
- Arnold Allen vs Giga Chikadze
