Edwards, Muhammad battle for welterweight supremacy

Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad will battle for the welterweight championship when they meet in the main event of UFC 304, set for the Co-op Live in Manchester, England, on the morning of Sunday 28 July 2024.

Edwards (22-3, 1 NC) and Muhammad (23-3, 1 NC) have met once before, facing off in a Fight Night in Las Vegas in March 2021, though the match was declared a No Contest in the second round after an accidental eye-poke from Edwards which left Muhammad unable to continue.

Englishman Edwards will be looking to make a third successful defence of the welterweight title, having defeated Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington last year, while Muhammad has put together a five-match winning streak to earn his first title shot, most recently outpointing Gilbert Burns in May of 2023.

Muhammad claims that he is currently “the best version of myself” and has declared that Edwards is “going to be in for a rude awakening”, but the champion has hit back by labelling his American rival’s confidence as “deluded”.

“He’s talking a lot of s***, so make sure you can back it up,” Edwards explained. “Like I said, he’s been off over a year. The way he talks is like he was winning the first fight, so a bit deluded. But like I said, he best be ready. It’s going to be a long, hard, tough fight for him in Manchester.”

The co-main event is for the interim heavyweight championship and sees belt holder Tom Aspinall (14-3) come up against Curtis Blaydes (18-4, 1 NC).

Aspinall, who hails from Salford in greater Manchester, will be looking to exorcise some ghosts in this clash, as it was against Blaydes that he suffered a knee injury in July 2022 that put him out of action for a full year.

He has also expressed dissatisfaction with the UFC’s decision to start the main card in the early hours of Sunday morning to appease pay-per-view fans in the United States.

“Well, as an athlete, as a fighter, in all honesty, it doesn’t make that much difference... probably for a couple of weeks before I’ll have to wake up and train at that time, or stay up, or whatever,” Aspinall explained.

“I’ve flown across the world multiple times and fought on different time zones, so it’s not as bad as that. [But] as a fan who wants to watch it live, I think it is absolutely terrible. I think... yeah, it’s just not fair on the fans, not fair on the U.K. fans.”

The main card will also feature Liverpool cult hero Paddy Pimblett taking on Bobby Green in the lightweight division: Muhammad Mokaev faces Manel Kape in a flyweight fight; and the featherweight opener pits Arnold Allen against Giga Chikadze.

UFC 304 – Main card

- Main event: Welterweight championship: Leon Edwards v Belal Muhammad

- Co-main: Interim heavyweight championship: Tom Aspinall v Curtis Blaydes

- Lightweight: Bobby Green v Paddy Pimblett

- Flyweight: Muhammad Mokaev v Manel Kape

- Featherweight: Arnold Allen v Giga Chikadze