The British have arrived.
Saturday’s UFC 304 occasion in Manchester, England, is headlined by a pair of title fights, each that includes British champions. Birmingham’s Leon Edwards defends his welterweight title in opposition to Belal Muhammad in the principle occasion, whereas the co-main sees Salford’s Tom Aspinall put the interim heavyweight title on the road in opposition to Curtis Blaydes.
Watch the chilly open for the ESPN+ pay-per-view occasion beneath, which opens by paying homage to U.Okay. MMA pioneers Michael Bisping, Brad Pickett, and Ross Pearson.
As with each chilly open for a serious UFC present, the narration is carried out by actor Ron Perlman, who proclaims that “the golden age of British MMA has arrived in pressure.” It’s exhausting to argue with that evaluation given the star energy on the prime of Saturday’s lineup.
Edwards enters his third protection of the welterweight title having not misplaced since 2016. He’s coming off of a wins over his two largest rivals, Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman, and now seeks to close the door on one other feud when he rematches Muhammad. Their first encounter ended unceremoniously with a watch poke that left Muhammad unable to proceed, however they’ve been granted one other 5 rounds to settle the rating.
Aspinall could solely maintain interim gold, however he’s the No. 1 heavyweight within the MMA Combating World Rankings. A matchup with undisputed champion Jon Jones (or Stipe Miocic) may very well be within the playing cards for Aspinall with a win at UFC 304, however Blaydes has the potential to spoil the social gathering and switch the heavyweight division on its head.
