News UFC 304 in Manchester is official for July 27

[moosaev]

Aspinall v Blaydes
Leon v Belal
MVP v Wonderboy
Paddy v Moicano

MVP vs Wonderboy is excellent, would love to see that.

 

[tornado362]

MVP vs Wonderboy is excellent, would love to see that.

I don't think either parties are interested in that fight. They both feel it could turn into a boring karate point fight, which to be honest it would.

 

[blaseblase]

Jones vs Aspinal.

The fight that should be made but wont

 

[blaseblase]

I don't think either parties are interested in that fight. They both feel it could turn into a boring karate point fight, which to be honest it would.

They are also friends who have trained together. I don't think they want to hurt each other.

 

[Rio Ferdinand]

Aspinall v Blaydes
Leon v Belal
MVP v Wonderboy
Paddy v Moicano

Leon vs Shavkhat

Just to see belals reaction

 

[SeattleFightFan]

Aspinall v Blaydes
Leon v Belal

let's hope.

 

[Mr Dilkington]

Main card not starting til 3am local time rules it out for me. I looked into it last time they did this for the Bisping Hendo 2 card and worked out I'd need 2 nights for a hotel as I couldn't find any with a late enough check out.

I'm sure they'll sell out, but it's disappointing. I guess Manchester can't offer them a site fee to make up for any lost PPV like the UAE or Saudi can.

 

[LeBron]

No way they put two title fights on this card. They only do that for big cities like Las Vegas or New York for example. Since when is Manchester a world class city?

 

[moosaev]

I don't think either parties are interested in that fight. They both feel it could turn into a boring karate point fight, which to be honest it would.

Maybe Venom would try to put on a show being at home

 

[TempleoftheDog]

Aspinall vs Blaydes 2
Leon vs Belal 2
MVP vs Neal/Buckley
Allen vs Ige/Emmett
Paddy vs Moicano/Green

Sounds like that would be a good main card to me.

US primetime sucks though. What a dumb fucking decision by the UFC.

They inconvenience the 20Kish live audience. By having the card live in the middle of the night.

Or ESPN has to sell the ppv to N Americans for a prelim card starting in the late morning/early afternoon. And a main card about 6-7 hours earlier than usual. It’s obvious which way that decision goes. If they want people to buy the ppv. It has to be shown in primetime in N America.

I imagine this is ESPN’s call, as much as anyone’s. They work together with the UFC on scheduling in a mutually beneficial manner. The venue will sell out no matter what time it’s on live. Especially if two British champions are defending.

 

[tornado362]

This might be the most stacked a UK card has been, probably the best crop of UK talent currently in the UFC, with so many main card options:

- Leon vs belal
- Aspinall vs Blaydes 2

Both of these are definites.

Other options include:
- Muhammad Mokaev vs. Brandon Royval
- Arnold Allen vs. Giga Chikadze
- Paddy Pimblett vs. Felder/Green/Moicano/Frevola/Dober (whoever)
- MVP vs. Wonderboy/Usman etc.

If Paul Craig and Lerone Murphy win next month, you could have them vs. opponents in the 8-12 range of the rankings.

Hell, they could even chuck Garry vs. Colby on this card, would make sense as setting up the next challenger, and with the American PPV timings. Get a lot of Irish fans in the arena.

 

[Barteh]

prelims kick off at 11pm same time Gus vs Rumble prelims started in Stockholm

I was there and it wasn't too bad during the moment. Although partying two nights in a row before that didn't help much.

 

[Lights Out 101]

Fuck yes another W for the Aussies and Kiwis - we can actually watch a UK card at a decent time for once, like we do for every other card (minus UAE)

 

[CC27]

Abu Dhabi cards go in afternoon cause the site fee UFC gets is like 25 mill or something so losing money on PPV buys from US isnt that big of a deal.

But with this card the site fees must not be big enough to offset what they'd lose in US PPV by running it in afternoon so its a night card.

Question for UK fans is what would you rather have? middle of the night PPV with Leon, TOm, MVP, Paddy, Allen with crazy expensive tickets or primetime fight night with cheaper tickets but only maybe MVP or Paddy on the card?

Me personally I'd suffer the overnight card and expensive tickets to have a stacked PPV with all the top UK guys on it and two title fights cause you're not gonna get that very often.

 

[svmr_db]

 

[BroRogan]

US primetime sucks though. What a dumb fucking decision by the UFC.

This! Should always be local time. Dana make your mind up! It's not like it's every 2 months or something.

 

[LincolnHawk1]

Aspinall vs blaydes
Edwards vs Muhammad
Venom page vs Ian Garry
Paddy vs dober
Molly meatball vs polyana Viana

 

[Marko Atanasovik]

1. Leon Edwards (C) vs Belal Muhammad
Boring asf but Belal deserved his shot.
2 Tom Aspinall (IC) vs Curtis Blaydes
Rematch.
3 Arnold Allen vs Yair Rodriguez
4 Paddy Pimblett vs Renato Moicano
5 MVP vs Santiago Ponzinibbio
6 Katlyn Cerminara vs Tracy Cortez
7 Marc Diakiese vs Rafa Garcia
8 Kiefer Crosbie vs Danny Barlow
9 Molly McCann vs Denise Gomes
10 Jordan Vucenic vs Jeka Saragih
11 AJ Fletcher vs Mounir Lazzez
12 George Hardwick vs Omar Morales

 

[DomiDomi]

Given that Gane declined the Aspinall fight, again, I'd imagine just Leon vs Belal 2 - don't see them giving us two title fights. Co-main probably something like Pimblett vs Moicano. I kinda suspect it's gonna be a weak PPV card, just a hunch.

Aspinall has already confirmed he's in training to fight on the card. If it's not Gane, it will be Blaydes. If not Blaydes, they'll find someone. Aspinall wants to fight in his hometown and earn some money.

Leon's coach also suggests he'll likely be on the card.

Dana also keeps mentioning in every interview he has 2 UK champs.

They've also put it on US prime time which suggests it's gonna be a very strong card, so like 2 title fights. If it was a weaker card they'd just host it on normal UK time like they did the London PPV.

MVP vs Wonderboy is excellent, would love to see that.

They're friends, and too similar style they'd just end up feinting at each other for 15 minutes. The last time Wonderboy came to UK we had to watch the snoozefest with Till, where they spent 25 minutes high fiving each other.

No way they put two title fights on this card. They only do that for big cities like Las Vegas or New York for example. Since when is Manchester a world class city?

This is exceptional circumstances really though isn't it - when has the UK ever had 2 UK champs at the same time? It's a big marketing sell to have 2 UK champs on the same card on home soil.

The fact they wanted it on US prime time suggests the UFC view it as a big card, and just 1 title fight wouldn't be enough to get a big US audience so they'd just host it on normal UK time.

Also, if there was only 1 title fight and one of Leon/Aspinall got injured they'd be screwed with no card left. Having 2 title fights ensures at least 1 British fighter defends their belt on the card even if the other pulls out.

What I don't understand is why the hell they would do the UK fans a favour by coming here when they simply don't need to, but then cater to the US market. If you want to cater to the US market, just host it in the US.

 

[JKS]

Leon title fight vs Shavkat or Khamzat

Belal co-main!