UFC 304 LIVE results: Leon Edwards loses title after Tom Aspinall knocks out Curtis Blaydes

Re-live the action as the UFC’s two British champions defended their titles in Manchester – with mixed results

Belal Muhammad unflinching in UFC 304 face-off with Leon Edwards

Tom Aspinall retained his interim heavyweight title with a rapid knockout of Curtis Blaydes on Saturday, before Leon Edwards lost the welterweight belt to Belal Muhammad in the UFC 304 main event.

Wigan’s Aspinall needed just one minute to floor Blaydes with a one-two, before flattening out the American and forcing a finish on the canvas. With that, Aspinall avenged a 2022 loss to Blaydes, a defeat that occurred when the Briton sustained a knee injury just 15 seconds into their fight in London.

In Manchester on Saturday, Aspinall was able to prove his superiority over Blaydes, 33, retaining the interim belt that he won in November. And in doing so, the 31-year-old moved a step closer to a dream fight with Jon Jones. Jones, 37, holds the regular belt but is out injured, with the American expected to return later this year in a title defence against former champion Stipe Miocic, 41.

In the main event of UFC 304, Edwards’s welterweight title reign was ended in comprehensive fashion by Muhammad. The Palestinian-American beat the Jamaican-born Briton on all three scorecards – 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 – in a rematch of their 2021 meeting.

Their first clash ended as a No Contest, after Edwards accidentally landed an eye poke on Muhammad, while each man had otherwise been faultless in recent years. Only Muhammad, 36, was able to retain that form on Saturday, however. With his unanimous-decision victory over Edwards, he ended a title reign that began in 2022 – when Edwards knocked out Kamaru Usman in stunning fashion.

Edwards, 32, retained the belt against Usman and Colby Covington with decision wins in 2023, but the Birmingham fighter could go no further on Saturday. Re-live the action and see all results from UFC 304, below.

UFC 304 LIVE

• The UFC returned to the UK for a pay-per-view event, at Manchester’s new Co-op Live arena
• Main event: Britain’s Leon Edwards lost his welterweight title to Belal Muhammad via decision
• The fight was a rematch of their 2021 bout, which ended as No Contest after an eye poke from Edwards
• Co-main event: Wigan’s Tom Aspinall retained the interim heavyweight title with a KO of Curtis Blaydes
• Aspinall dropped and finished Blaydes in one minute exactly to move a step closer to a dream fight with Jon Jones
• That bout was also a rematch; in 2022, Aspinall suffered a knee injury just 15 seconds into their first clash
• Elsewhere, Liverpool’s Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett won after friend Molly McCann lost
• Arnold Allen and Muhammad Mokaev were among the other British fighters to win

[27 July 2024 23:02 · Alex Pattle]

UFC 304 LIVE: Shauna Bannon vs Alice Ardelean

Right then, UFC 304 is under way! We start with a women’s strawweight fight, between Ireland’s Shauna Bannon and Romania’s Alice Ardelean.

Round one

Hard outside low kick from Ardelean early on. Side kick to the body by Bannon, who then kicks high. She just misses with a one-two. Both women then land punches in close.

Hard jab by Ardelean. Strong inside low kick by Bannon. The Irishwoman is already sporting blood around her nose. She eats another jab. She’s trying the high kick intermittently. A cross tags her right on the nose now.

Into a grappling exchange as Ardelean gets a body lock and drives the Irishwoman to the fence, before dragging her to the mat. Bannon tries a triangle but to no avail.

Now she attempts an armbar. No luck there either, and Ardelean ends up in Bannon’s closed guard. Another unsuccessful armbar effort by Bannon before the buzzer.

[27 July 2024 22:30 · Alex Pattle]

UFC 304 LIVE: Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad open up on elevator confrontation

On Wednesday, Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad opened up on their confrontation in an elevator this week.

That same day, the UFC posted the latest episode of its usual pre-fight docu-series, Embedded, on YouTube. The episode ended with Edwards entering an elevator and engaging in a tense staredown with his Palestinian-American opponent.

“Remember The Name!” Edwards said, referencing Muhammad’s nickname. “Come on, boys. Slide in, boys,” he added, seemingly speaking to members of his own team.

Here’s what happened next, and what each fighter had to say about it:

[27 July 2024 21:50 · Alex Pattle]

UFC 304 LIVE: Aspinall and Edwards aim to right the strangest of wrongs – preview

For Tom Aspinall, it was in the knee: the sharp, sudden cruelty of ligaments tearing. For Leon Edwards, it was under the eyelid – but not his own: instead it was under Belal Muhammad’s, as Edwards’s outstretched finger snuck between the banks of flesh and jabbed at the eyeball.

For Aspinall, it meant a TKO loss to Curtis Blaydes in London. It was an injury that took just 15 seconds to sustain, but which would keep him out of the cage for a year. A whole different sort of caged for the Wigan heavyweight. For Edwards, it meant a No Contest against Muhammad. It was an indiscretion that would cost the Jamaican-born Birmingham fighter a win, and a shot at the welterweight title. Like Aspinall, it would also cost him the best part of a year of his career.

UFC 304 preview:

[27 July 2024 21:30 · Alex Pattle]

UFC 304 LIVE: Fight card in full, featuring Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann

Main card

Leon Edwards (C) vs Belal Muhammad 2 (welterweight title)

Tom Aspinall (C) vs Curtis Blaydes 2 (interim heavyweight title)

Bobby King Green vs Paddy Pimblett (lightweight)

Christian Leroy Duncan vs Gregory Rodrigues (middleweight)

Arnold Allen vs Giga Chikadze (featherweight)

Prelims

Nathaniel Wood vs Daniel Pineda (featherweight)

Molly McCann vs Bruna Brasil (women’s strawweight)

Caolan Loughran vs Jake Hadley (bantamweight)

Muhammad Mokaev vs Manel Kape (flyweight)

Early prelims

Oban Elliott vs Preston Parsons (welterweight)

Modestas Bukauskas vs Marcin Prachnio (light-heavyweight)

Sam Patterson vs Kiefer Crosbie (welterweight)

Mick Parkin vs Lukasz Brzeski (heavyweight)

Shauna Bannon vs Alice Ardelean (women’s strawweight)

[27 July 2024 21:10 · Alex Pattle]

UFC 304 LIVE: How to watch fights tonight

The card will air live on TNT Sports in the UK, with the broadcaster’s app and website also streaming the fights. Discovery+ will also air the action in the UK. In the US, ESPN+ will stream the event live on pay-per-view, as will the UFC’s Fight Pass.

If you’re travelling abroad and want to watch the event, you might need a VPN to unblock your streaming app. Our VPN round-up is here to help and includes deals on VPNs in the market. Viewers using a VPN need to make sure that they comply with any local regulations where they are and also with the terms of their service provider.

We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

[27 July 2024 20:30 · Alex Pattle]

UFC 304 LIVE

UFC 304 will take place in Manchester tonight, as British champions Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall defend their titles in intriguing rematches.

In the main event, welterweight king Edwards defends his belt against Belal Muhammad, three years after fighting the Palestinian-American to a No Contest. In their first meeting, Edwards accidentally landed an eye poke, leading the bout to be halted.

Edwards – Jamaican-born and representing Birmingham – regained momentum and won the 170lb title with a stunning knockout of Kamaru Usman in 2022, before retaining the gold against Usman and Colby Covington last year. The 32-year-old is unbeaten in 13 fights across nine years.

In tonight’s co-main event, Aspinall puts the interim heavyweight title on the line against Curtis Blaydes, two years after suffering a knee injury against the American – just 15 seconds into that clash in London. Wigan’s Aspinall, 31, has otherwise been perfect in the UFC and claimed the interim strap with a knockout of Sergei Pavlovich in November.

Typically an interim champion would challenge the regular title holder next, but Jon Jones is injured and the UFC is refusing to strip him of his belt – instead insisting that “Bones” will defend his title against Stipe Miocic next, as was planned last year.

Elsewhere at UFC 304, Paddy Pimblett, Molly McCann, Muhammad Mokaev and Arnold Allen are among the many British names in action.