It was confirmed by the UFC last week that UFC 304 will take place from the brand new Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England. The event is set to take place on July 27th and although for UK fans the card is set to be in the middle of the night, the card can guarantee some bangers.
We create the card and highlight the fights that we could be seeing in the north of England in July. We go quite heavy on the main card and certainly scale back on the prelims and early prelims, however, this is an international PPV with a very British feel throughout.
UFC 304 – Manchester
Confirmed Bouts
We’ve had just one confirmed bout for Manchester thusfar as fan favourite and British native, Nathaniel Wood is confirmed to be fighting at home again. He will take on American, Daniel Pineda who steps into enemy territory.
Main Card
Main Event – Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes 2: Interim Heavyweight Title Bout
We know that interim heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall will be featuring at UFC 304 as per a social media post. There are two clear contenders for Aspinall to face. Firstly is former foe, Curtis Blaydes. The two men faced off in July 2022 with Blaydes coming away with the victory. With that being said, the fight didn’t play out how anyone predicted. Just 15 seconds into the fight, the Brit suffered a knee injury, forcing a premature stoppage to the bout.
Since then, Blaydes has gone 1-1, suffering a loss to Sergei Pavlovich before coming from behind and finishing Jailton Almeida at UFC 299. Aspinall has gone 2-0 with two first-round knockouts. Importantly, one of these knockouts came against Pavlovich in New York at UFC 295 to capture the UFC interim heavyweight title. Logically, this is the rematch to make.
Secondly, we have Ciryl Gane. Gane is the former interim heavyweight champion but lost to Jon Jones in March 2023. He returned in September of last year to defeat Serghei Spivac in his home of Paris. Gane seems uninterested in the Aspinall fight, however, and the Brit believes that he’s ducking the fight. Gane has responded and seemingly rejected the fight due to taking part in a film… The all European affair would be good, but rebook the Blaydes fight for the main event.
Co-Main Event – Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad
Without a doubt, Leon Edwards needs to feature on the Manchester card and in Belal Muhammad, he has a logical opponent. Like in the main event, this one would be a rematch after their first fight ended in a no-contest due to an eye poke back in 2021. The two men have seemingly been on a collision course since then and now that Edwards holds the belt, it makes more sense now than ever. Muhammad is enjoying an impressive five fight winning run since that fight and Edwards is 4-0 since then having captured the title in emphatic fashion in 2022.
This one is going to provide fireworks.
https://twitter.com/ufcontnt/status/1783190645567304037
3 Main Card Fights
Paddy Pimblett vs. Bobby Green
Although Renato Moicano looks like potential opponent for Paddy Pimblett, it needs to be Bobby Green. Green is a great talker and someone who knows how to sell a fight. The thought of the press conference featuring the American, Green and fan favourite, Pimblett is extremely exciting.
Pimblett needs a ranked opponent next and either Moicano or Green make a lot of sense, especially as they called him out after their big wins at UFC 300.
MVP vs. Stephen Thompson
This is one that has always had fans salivating well before MVP even joined the UFC. The two karate stylists will without a doubt put on a competitive chess match, however, don’t expect lots of action. The anticipation will likely outweigh the fight itself, however, it makes perfect sense to have this fight on the Manchester card. MVP is British and Thompson has stepped into enemy territory before to face Darren Till.
With that being said, there are strong rumours that it will be MVP vs Geoff Neal, which is also a quality fight. Anything that potentially gets Page closer to a title shot works.
Muhammad Mokaev vs Brandon Royval
This one could either happen at UFC 304 or on the UFC’s first trip to Saudi Arabia. With that being said, let’s assume it goes down in Manchester. This title eliminator is overdue and either one of these men could have been competing in the UFC 301 main event against the champion.
Muhammad Mokaev represents the UK and is a fan favourite with a relentless style and an undefeated record to protect. Last time out, Brandon Royval put on the best performance of his career, out-pointing the former champion, Brandon Moreno. Book it for UFC 304 and have the winner turn around later in the year to compete for the belt.
Prelims
Prelim headliner: Molly McCann vs. Loma Lookboonmee
Christopher Leroy Duncan vs. Gregory Rodrigues
Casey O’Neill vs. Tracy Cortez
Caolan Loughran vs. Trevin Jones
Early Prelims
Sam Patterson vs. Kenan Song
Liam Gittins (New signing) vs. Sumudaerji
Kiefer Crosbie vs. Rhys McKee
Melissa Mullins vs. Darya Zheleznyakova
Alternative bouts
Chris Duncan vs. Jai Herbert
Marc Diakese vs. Mike Davis
Mick Parkin vs. Marcos Rogerio De Lima
Davey Grant vs.Marcus McGhee
