| UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad 2 | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | July 27, 2024 | |||
| Venue | Co-op Live | |||
| City | Manchester, England | |||
| Attendance | 17,907 [1] | |||
| Total gate | $6,720,000 [1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad 2 was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on July 27, 2024, at the Co-op Live in Manchester, England. [2]
The event marked the promotion's fifth visit to Manchester and first since UFC 204 in October 2016. [2] Despite the event taking place in Manchester, the event was held based on Pacific Daylight Time (PDT, UTC-7) (Las Vegas) time with preliminary fights starting at 23.00 British Summer Time (15.00 PDT), and the main card starting 03.00 BST, which is the standard start time for UFC pay-per-view events of 19.00 PDT, which drew massive criticism from fans and fighters. Fans believed the matches should have started earlier (19.00 BST, or 11.00 PDT) for the UK audience. [4]
A UFC Welterweight Championship bout between current champion Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad headlined the event. [5] The pair previously fought at UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs. Muhammad in March 2021, where the fight was declared a no contest following an accidental eye poke which left Muhammad unable to continue. [6]
An interim UFC Heavyweight Championship bout between the title holder Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes co-headlined the event. [7] They previously met at UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Aspinall in July 2022 in which Blaydes won after Aspinall injured his knee fifteen seconds into the bout keeping him out of competition for a year. [8]
A middleweight bout between Christian Leroy Duncan and Robert Bryczek was scheduled for this event. [9] However, Bryczek withdrew from the fight for unknown reasons and was replaced by former LFA Middleweight Champion Gregory Rodrigues. [10]
A women's strawweight bout between Ravena Oliveira and Shauna Bannon was scheduled for this event. [11] However, Oliveira withdrew from the bout due to an injury and was replaced with promotional newcomer Alice Ardelean. [12]
A bantamweight bout between Ramon Taveras and Caolán Loughran was scheduled for this event. [13] However, Taveras had to withdraw from the bout due to an injury and was reportedly relaced by Hecher Sosa. [14] [15] It was later reported that Sosa would not be competing at the event as Loughran would face Jake Hadley instead. [16] [17] At the weigh-ins, Hadley weighed in at 137 pounds, half a pound over the bantamweight non-title fight limit. The bout proceeded at catchweight and Hadley was fined 20 percent of his purse which went to Loughran. [18]
The event originally featured $50,000 fight night bonuses, which were raised to $100,000 before the event. [19]
| Main card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Welterweight | Belal Muhammad | def. | Leon Edwards (c) | Decision (unanimous) (48–47, 48–47, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | [lower-alpha 1] |
| Heavyweight | Tom Aspinall (ic) | def. | Curtis Blaydes | KO (punches) | 1 | 1:00 | [lower-alpha 2] |
| Lightweight | Paddy Pimblett | def. | King Green | Technical Submission (triangle choke) | 1 | 3:22 | |
| Middleweight | Gregory Rodrigues | def. | Christian Leroy Duncan | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Arnold Allen | def. | Giga Chikadze | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN 2 / ESPN+) | |||||||
| Featherweight | Nathaniel Wood | def. | Daniel Pineda | Decision (unanimous) (29–27, 29–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Bruna Brasil | def. | Molly McCann | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (137 lb) | Jake Hadley | def. | Caolán Loughran | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Flyweight | Muhammad Mokaev | def. | Manel Kape | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Early preliminary card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass) | |||||||
| Welterweight | Oban Elliott | def. | Preston Parsons | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Modestas Bukauskas | def. | Marcin Prachnio | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 3 | 3:12 | |
| Welterweight | Sam Patterson | def. | Kiefer Crosbie | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 1 | 2:50 | |
| Heavyweight | Mick Parkin | def. | Łukasz Brzeski | KO (punches) | 1 | 3:23 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Shauna Bannon | def. | Alice Ardelean | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
The following fighters received bonuses. [21]
Vicente Luque is a Brazilian and American professional mixed martial artist. Luque currently competes in the welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of June 11, 2024, he is #13 in the UFC welterweight rankings.
Belal Muhammad is an American professional mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the current UFC Welterweight Champion. As of August 6, 2024, he is #5 in the UFC men's pound-for-pound rankings. A professional competitor since 2012, he has also competed for Bellator and Titan FC.
Curtis Blaydes is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since 2014, Blaydes formerly competed for the Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA). As of July 30, 2024, he is #5 in the UFC heavyweight rankings.
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