| UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad 2 | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | July 27, 2024 (2024-07-27) | |||
| Venue | Co-op Live | |||
| City | Manchester, England | |||
| Attendance | 17,907 | |||
| Total gate | $6,720,000 | |||
| 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.
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The event marked the promotion's fifth visit to Manchester and first since UFC 204 in October 2016. 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.
A UFC Welterweight Championship bout between current champion Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad headlined the event. 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.
An interim UFC Heavyweight Championship bout between the title holder Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes co-headlined the event. 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.
A middleweight bout between Christian Leroy Duncan and Robert Bryczek was scheduled for this event. However, Bryczek withdrew from the fight for unknown reasons and was replaced by former LFA Middleweight Champion Gregory Rodrigues.
A women's strawweight bout between Ravena Oliveira and Shauna Bannon was scheduled for this event. However, Oliveira withdrew from the bout due to an injury and was replaced with promotional newcomer Alice Ardelean.
A bantamweight bout between Ramon Taveras and Caolán Loughran was scheduled for this event. However, Taveras had to withdraw from the bout due to an injury and was reportedly relaced by Hecher Sosa. It was later reported that Sosa would not be competing at the event as Loughran would face Jake Hadley instead. 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.
The event originally featured $50,000 fight night bonuses, which were raised to $100,000 before the event.
Results
| 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 | |
| Heavyweight | Tom Aspinall (ic) | def. | Curtis Blaydes | KO (punches) | 1 | 1:00 | |
| 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 | |
- For the UFC Welterweight Championship.
- For the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship.
Bonus awards
The following fighters received bonuses.
- Fight of the Night: No bonus awarded.
- Performance of the Night ($200,000): Paddy Pimblett
- Performance of the Night ($100,000): Tom Aspinall and Mick Parkin
See also
References
- ^ Mike Bohn (2024-07-28). "UFC 304 post-event facts: Tom Aspinall shortens fight time record in rare interim title defense". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
- ^ Guillherme Cruz (2024-04-24). "UFC 304 announced for Manchester this summer". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
- Staff (2024-04-24). "UFC 304 confirmed for Manchester in July". bbc.com. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
- Mathew Riddle (2024-05-01). "Aspinall: UFC 304 Start Time 'Absolutely Terrible'". si.com. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
- Mike Bohn (2024-05-16). "UFC 304 official with Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad headliner and more in Manchester". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
- Nolan King (2021-03-14). "UFC Fight Night 187 results: Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad ends in nasty accidental eye poke". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
- Staff (2024-05-16). "Interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes set for UFC 304 co-main event". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
- Eddie Law (2022-07-23). "UFC London: Aspinall suffers knee injury 15 seconds in, Blaydes takes TKO decision". cagesidepress.com. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
- Bryson Hester (2024-05-23). "UFC 304 adds Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Robert Bryczek". cagesidepress.com. Retrieved 2024-05-24.
- Mathew Riddle. "UFC 304: savage middleweight strikers clash at Manchester PPV". si.com. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
- Parviz Iskenderov (2024-05-14). "UFC 304: Molly McCann faces Bruna Brasil, Shauna Bannon meets Ravena Oliveira". fightmag.com. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
- Ryan Harkness (2024-07-15). "TikTok star Alice Ardelean added to UFC 304 fight card in Manchester". mmamania.com. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
- Ian O'Neill (2024-04-17). "Caolan Loughran vs. Ramon Tavares set for UFC 304". severemma.com. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
- Nolan King (2024-07-17). "Ramon Taveras withdraws from UFC 304 vs. Caolan Loughran: 'It sucks that it came to this'". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
- Daniel Manso (2024-07-18). "New Spanish partner for Topuria: Hecher joins the UFC". as.com. Retrieved 2024-07-18. (in Spanish)
- Cristina Parra (2024-07-18). "Hecher Sosa's dream on pause: "It was very close!"". as.com. Retrieved 2024-07-19. (in Spanish)
- Nolan King (2024-07-22). "Matchup Roundup: New UFC, PFL, Bellator fights announced in the past week (July 15-21)". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
- Alexander K. Lee (2024-07-26). "UFC 304 weigh-in results: 2 title bouts official, 1 fighter misses". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
- Nolan King, Ken Hathaway and Abbey Subhan (2024-07-25). "Dana White increases UFC 304 performance bonuses to six figures after King Green's plea". mmajunkie.usatoday.com. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
- "UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad 2". Ultimate Fighting Championship. 24 April 2024. Retrieved 2024-05-16.
- Chris Taylor (2024-07-27). "UFC 304 Bonus Report: Paddy Pimblett takes home $200k". bjpenn.com. Retrieved 2024-07-27.
