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.^[2]

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[1]
Total gate	$6,720,000[1]
Event chronology
UFC on ESPN: Lemos vs. Jandiroba UFC 304: Edwards vs. Muhammad 2 UFC on ABC: Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov

Background

This was the first sporting event to take place at the Co-op Live arena, which opened in April 2024.^[3]

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 replaced 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]

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	[a]
Heavyweight	Tom Aspinall (ic)	def.	Curtis Blaydes	KO (punches)	1	1:00	[b]
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

1. For the UFC Welterweight Championship.
2. For the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship.

^[20]

Bonus awards

The following fighters received bonuses.^[21]

• 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

• Martial Arts portal

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