The UFC returns to England this weekend for UFC 304 on July 27th in Manchester, United Kingdom. Here is the UFC 304 start time, date, and where to watch.
UFC 304 goes down this Saturday 27th of July in Manchester opening doors to fans of the sport in the north of England. Despite several fight nights and UFC 286 in the O2 the company rarely comes to the United Kingdom.
When it does come, it typically comes to London, largely down to the lack of large arenas across the country. The last time the UFC came to the north of England for a pay-per-view was UFC 204 Bisping versus Henderson 2 in Manchester.
8 years and 100 numbered events later the UFC returns to Manchester for a card showered in British MMA stars.
UFC 304: Start Time, Date and Where to Watch
- Date: Saturday 27th July at Co-op Live in Manchester, England.
- Start Time: Early Prelims – 11:00 p.m. BST / 06:00 p.m. ET Prelims – 01:00 a.m. BST / 08:00 p.m. ET Main Card – 03:00 a.m. BST / 10:00 p.m. ET.
- Where to watch: U.S. – ESPN+ PPV / UK – TNT Sports
The Main Card
- Leon Edwards [C] vs Belal Muhammad – Welterweight title fight
- Tom Aspinall [IC] vs Curtis Blaydes – Heavyweight title fight
- Paddy Pimblett vs King Green – Lightweight
- Muhammad Mokaev vs Manel Kape – Flyweight
- Arnold Allen vs Giga Chikadze – Featherweight
In the main event, Leon Edwards faces Belal Muhammad for the Welterweight title. This fight is a rematch after the two fought in 2021, a fight which ended in the second round after Edwards accidentally eye-poked Muhammad.
Since then Edwards is 4-0 and now the champion defending the belt twice against Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington. Muhammad is 5-0 since their last fight riding a 10-fight unbeaten streak.
For the co-main event we have yet another rematch in which Tom Aspinall takes on Curtis Blaydes for the interim Heavyweight championship. They first fought in 2022 at the O2 in London when the fight was stopped 15 seconds into the bout after Aspinall suffered a knee injury.
Now invigorated the interim champion and hungry for revenge Aspinall looks to put the first fight behind him this weekend. Blaydes is coming off an emphatic KO victory when he finished highly touted prospect Jailton Almeida in round 2 at UFC 299.
Unbeaten in the UFC Paddy “The Baddy” Pimblett is set to fight UFC veteran King Green. King (formerly Bobby) sits at #15 ranked in the Lightweight division allowing Paddy to jump into the rankings this weekend.
Dagestan born, Wigan raised, Muhammad Mokaev is due to take his toughest test yet when he fights Manel Kape. Mokaev is 12-0-0 and is yet to truly be tested in the octagon.
His dominant sambo-wrestling style is reminiscent of his fellow countryman Khabib Nurmagomedov. Kape however, is an explosive puncher with incredible takedown defence keen to steal Mokaev’s spot for the next Flyweight title shot.
For the main card opener, we are treated to Arnold Allen versus the returning Giga Chikadze. Allen was tearing through the UFC featherweight division with a 12-fight win streak.
Once arriving at the upper echelon of the division he has come up short in decisions against Max Holloway and Movsar Evloev. Raring to get back in the win column it’ll be no walk in the park against Giga Chikadze.
Despite the unfavourable timings for local fans, the UFC have certainly made up for it with the stellar matchups from top to bottom.
That’s the UFC 304 start time, date, and fight card.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images