UFC 304

''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.

Background

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 replaced 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

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

*2024 in UFC
*List of current UFC fighters
*List of UFC events

References

{{2024 in mixed martial arts

Ultimate Fighting Championship flagship events
2024 in UFC
Mixed martial arts in the United Kingdom
International sports competitions in Manchester
2024 in English sport
July 2024 sports events in the United Kingdom