The
Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to England this weekend
with a pay-per-view event, although local fans will have to deal
with quite the late start time.
Two title fights are now set for the top of the
UFC 304 card. The main event will see Leon
Edwards attempting to defend his welterweight title against
Belal
Muhammad. Meanwhile, the co-main event will see interim
heavyweight titleholder Tom
Aspinall go up against the last man to defeat him, Curtis
Blaydes. All four title fight participants made weight, as did
the rest of the card with the exception of would-be bantamweight
Jake
Hadley, who came in at 137 pounds for his fight against
Caolan
Loughran. Hadley will be fined 20% of his purse as a
result.
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Edwards (22-3, 1 NC) previously fought Muhammad to a no contest
after an accidental eye poke stopped the fight early into Round 2. “Rocky” had been fully in control up to that point and will look to
get a definitive win in the rematch. Since their last meeting, the
English fighter has won four fights, claiming the title from
Kamaru
Usman and then defending it twice. His last fight saw him
dominate Colby
Covington over five rounds. The 32-year-old stepped on the
scale at 170 pounds on the dot.
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Muhammad (23-3, 1 NC) will look to force UFC fans to “Remember the
Name” by becoming champion. Since the no contest, the Chicago
fighter has won five straight fights. Wins against Gilbert
Burns, Sean Brady
and Vicente
Luque made a title shot undeniable. He’ll now look to get
revenge against Edwards after their 2021 fight had no real
conclusion. Muhammad officially weighed 169 pounds for his first
UFC title fight.
UFC 304 prelims begin at 6:15 p.m. ET/3:15 p.m. PT on ESPN+ and UFC
Fight Pass on Saturday. Prelims then move to ESPN+ and ESPN2 at 8
p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT before going to ESPN+ pay-per-view at 10 p.m.
ET/7 p.m. PT.
UFC 304 Weigh-in Results:
Leon
Edwards (170) vs. Belal
Muhammad (169)
Tom
Aspinall (251) vs. Curtis
Blaydes (256)
Bobby
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 (115)
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. Michael
Parkin (264)
Alice
Ardelean (116) vs. Shauna
Bannon (115)
* Hadley missed weight by one pound and will be fined 20% of his
purse.