On the night of July 27-28, Manchester (England) will host the next UFC 304 tournament. Its main event will be the welterweight title fight between current champion Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad.
The main event, regardless of the outcome, will go down in history – after all, it will be the defence of an interim title, which is extremely rare in the UFC. Tom Aspinall will face Curtis Blaydes.
Also worth noting are the Paddy Pimblett – Bobby Green and Muhammad Mokaev – Manel Kape fights. As you can see, there will definitely be something to watch!
What time does UFC 304 start and where to watch it?
You can watch the UFC 304 tournament stream on the Match Fighter and Match TV channels. The tournament will also be broadcast on the UFC Fight Pass platform.
UFC 304 Full Card
Principal card:
Leon Edwards – Belal Muhammad; Tom Aspinall – Curtis Blades – Paddy Pimblett: Muhammad Mokaev – Manel Arnold Allen – Giga Chikadze.
Preliminary card:
Nathaniel Wood – Daniel Pineda; Molly McCann – Bruna Brazil; Caolan Loughran – Ramón Taveras; Michael Parkin – Lukasz Oban Elliott – Preston Parsons; Bukauskas – Marcin Prachno.
Main fight – Edwards – Muhammad
This is also revenge, but, so to speak, “on minimum wages.” Three years ago, their first fight was declared a no-no due to a blow to Leon’s eye.
What will happen now? Edwards is one of the most boring and pragmatic fighters. He has no knockout punch, so he avoids risky situations. At the same time, Leon is good at both stand-up and wrestling, which allows him to win.
Belal Muhammad is a good fighter, but not a finisher. He is even sadder in the stand-up here. Yes, he has improved lately, but, frankly, there is no telling what he can do with Edwards. And if you remember the first fight, then the first round was entirely for the Briton.
The bookmakers offer odds of 1.40 for Leon and 3.05 for his opponent. Everything suggests that Edwards will defend his title, and it will be decided by the judges. The coefficient for this is much more interesting: 2.22. You can increase the odds even further and bet on a unanimous victory for the British at 2.57. There should not be any sensation here.
Co-main event: Aspinall vs. Blaydes
In a rare case, Tom Aspinall failed to secure a unification fight with Jon Jones and will defend his interim title. We need revenge on Curtis Blaydes. These guys’ first fight ended with Tom’s leg injury. But now everything speaks for him.
Tom recovered from his injury and defeated Marcin Tybura and Sergei Pavlovich. As for Blaydes, he lost to Pavlovich and was knocked out. And there is a feeling that Curtis has developed a fear of falling. In the end, he was knocked out not only by Pavlovich, but also by Francis Ngannou and Derrick Lewis. Here is Aspinall from the same category, the most uncomfortable for Blaydes.
The bookmakers are giving Tom a 1.26 chance to win and Blades a 4.05 chance. A knockout for Curtis seems unavoidable; odds of 1.70 are offered for this outcome of the fight in favour of Aspinall. A good option!
Pimblett – Green: The crowd favourite may suffer
Paddy Pimblett and Bobby Green will fight in the lightweight category. Bobby, who recently changed his name to King, has been in the UFC for a long time, a respected fighter who has fought with the best. Pimblett is also trying to break into the top ranks. That’s five wins in a row, but the impression they give is ambiguous. The judges cynically stole the victory from Jared Gordon; Tony Ferguson’s Pimblett won fairly, but unconvincingly, given his opponent’s age and health.
Paddy will try to move Greene to the ground, where he is stronger, but transferring him is one thing, but holding him is another. Bobby will try to keep the fight standing, where Pimblett is having trouble. But Paddy has his fans, he is a brilliant and attention-grabbing fighter. It is not surprising that the bookmakers give exactly the same odds of 1.92 for the fighters to win.
Mokaev – Cape
The Dagestani, who competes under the flag of England, will probably have his last fight in the UFC. At least, Muhammad himself said that he was in no hurry to renew the contract that expired after the fight with Kape. However, the victory will open up new opportunities. But it is still necessary to achieve this victory and it will not be easy.
The Portuguese has excellent speed, throws a lot of punches while standing. If he manages to avoid a fight, Kape is capable of causing an upset. Mokaev is not very spectacular, but he achieves results. Caution is not the worst quality in battles. Therefore, Muhammad is the favorite; you can bet on him at 1.48. Kape’s chances were estimated at 2.75. Perhaps the line is not distorted, but, we repeat, the Portuguese has chances.
UFC 304 may not have a head-turning main event, but the main card will definitely be something to watch. Especially if Curtis Blaydes lasts at least one round against Aspinall. But even if this doesn’t happen, the remaining fights should be brilliant. That’s what we hope!
