The top fights have been confirmed for UFC 304 later this summer in Manchester, England.
UFC CEO Dana White announced that Leon Edwards will defend the UFC welterweight title against Belal Muhammad, and interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall will defend his title against Curtis Blaydes.
BREAKING NEWS!!! #UFC304 pic.twitter.com/C5uCJJBUYk
— danawhite (@danawhite) May 16, 2024
Muhammad (23-3, 1 NC) is unbeaten in his previous ten fights and had a no-contest against Edwards in March 2021, which ended due to an accidental eye poke by Edwards.
Since their last fight, Muhammad has scored wins against Demian Maia, Stephen Thompson, Vicente Luque, Sean Brady, and Gilbert Burns.
Edwards (22-3, 1 NC) became the 170-pound champion by beating Kamaru Usman with a spectacular head kick knockout at UFC 278 in August 2022 and has defended the title twice against Usman and Colby Covington. The current champion is unbeaten since December 2015.
Aspinall (14-3) suffered a knee injury in the opening seconds of a July 2022 fight against Blaydes and lost by TKO due to the injury. He missed a year of action and returned with a stoppage win against Marcin Tybura before winning the interim title last November at UFC 295 with a first stoppage knockout against Sergei Pavlovich.
Blaydes (18-4, 1 NC) has a loss against Pavlovich from April 2023 but is coming off a knockout victory against Jailton Almeida at UFC 299 this past March.
White has also announced that Paddy Pimblett will fight Bobby Green, Manel Kape will take on Muhammad Mokaev, and Arnold Allen will fight Giga Chikadze on the UFC 304 card.
UFC 304 takes place at the Co-op Live on July 27 and is the first UFC pay-per-view in the city since UFC 204 in October 2016.
