UFC 304: Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad 2: Full results
UFC 304 is in the books. The event took place at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester, England on July 27. It marked the UFC's return to the city since UFC 204 in October 2016. This article recaps the event and explores the full results.
In the main event, welterweight champion Leon Edwards fought Belal Muhammad in his third title defense. The fight was a rematch of their March 2021 showdown that ended in a no-contest due to an accidental eye poke from Edwards.
Uncharacteristically, Muhammad engaged in trash-talk and mind games heading into UFC 304. Social media reactions suggested increased fan interest in the fight due to his promotional tactics. However, fans were still skeptical about the entertainment value given the pair's fighting styles.
Muhammad started aggressively and asserted his dominance in the grappling department with two takedowns in the opening round. While Edwards defended fairly well against the ground-and-pound and submission attempts, he struggled to keep the fight standing.
Muhammad dictated the pace and had his way on the ground barring the exception of the third round when Edwards held back control for upwards of four minutes.
Edwards' corner urged for a finish in the final round but his takedown defense did not hold up, resulting in him spending the majority of the round with Muhammad on his back.
In the last desperate attempt, Edwards reversed the position and opened a huge cut on Muhammad's head with slicing elbows in the closing seconds. However, it did little to alter the course of the fight, resulting in 'Rocky' losing the title by unanimous decision on the judges' scorecards.
In the co-main event, interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall attempted the first defense of his title against Curtis Blaydes. The fight was a rematch of their July 2022 contest that ended in a TKO win for Blaydes after Aspinall injured his knee 15 seconds into the first round.
The interim title defense was booked as the undisputed heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been on the sidelines due to a pectoral injury. This was the first attempted defense of an interim title since Renan Barao's UFC 165 win over Eddie Wineland more than a decade ago.
In the fight, Blaydes let his hands go early and appeared to have lightly grazed Aspinall's chin a few times. However, the speed difference was visible as Aspinall slipped out of harm's way without absorbing damage.
The Brit sent Blaydes tumbling down to the canvas with a left jab and followed him to the ground. Aspinall put his weight on Blaydes and overwhelmed him with quick punches as the American tried to get to his feet.
Referee Marc Goddard stepped in to stop the action as Blaydes appeared to offer little resistance to the punches. Blaydes protested the stoppage but maintained professional conduct through post-fight formalities.
UFC 304 main card results: Paddy Pimblett shines, Arnold Allen outworks Giga Chikadze
Local favorite Paddy Pimblett fought veteran fighter Bobby Green, who recently changed his name to King Green, on the UFC 304 main card. It was the last fight on Pimblett's UFC contract and it was speculated that the outcome of the fight could impact his negotiations with the promotion going forward.
After the initial striking exchanges, a leg kick from Pimblett put Green off-balance and the Brit pulled a guillotine to take the fight to the ground. He transitioned through several submissions before latching a tight arm-triangle choke. Green tried to get out of the chokehold but passed out after a few seconds. With the win, Pimblett extended his win UFC streak to six. This was the 10th submission win of his professional MMA career.
Middleweight contenders Christian Leroy Duncan and Gregory Rodrigues competed to extend their win streaks. While both men are strikers by trade, Duncan appeared to be the more polished striker with clean technique and elusive footwork. Meanwhile, Rodrigues employed his strength and outwrestled the Brit in the opening round to establish his dominance. He increasingly used his striking arsenal to systematically break Duncan and emerged victoriously on all three judges' scorecards.
In the main card opening bout, No.6-ranked featherweight Arnold Allen fought Georgia's Giga Chikadze to get back in the win column. After Max Holloway snapped Allen's 10-fight win streak in April 2023, the Brit lost to Movsar Evloev by a unanimous decision at UFC 297. Meanwhile, Chikadze was coming off a unanimous decision win against Alex Caceres in August 2023.
Allen employed an effective strategy from the get-go and forced Chikadze to fight going backward with relentless pressure. He denied the Georgian fighter the space to implement his kick-heavy fighting style and forced him to fight in the punching range.
While Chikadze landed a few clean strikes, Allen controlled the range and dictated the pace to win the fight on the scorecards.
UFC 304 preliminary card results: Nathaniel Wood scores dominant win, Muhammad Mokaev criticized for questionable tactics despite winning
In the UFC 304 preliminary card headlining bout, featherweight contender Nathaniel Wood took on veteran fighter Daniel Pineda. Wood was coming off a unanimous decision loss against Muhammad Naimov, which snapped his three-fight win streak. However, Naimov committed several fouls and many felt that Wood deserved to get a win.
Wood assumed full control of his latest fight and gave Pineda everything he could handle. Pineda maintained composure despite getting hurt several times and continued to offer resistance. Wood's size disadvantage hurt him in the third round when he appeared to struggle to get out of the bottom position. However, he dominated the majority of the fight, securing a unanimous decision win.
Another one of the local favorites, strawweight contender Molly McCann fought Bruna Brasil to attempt a second straight win after defeating Diana Belbita by submission in her divisional debut in February.
McCann survived a tough first round as Brasil came close to finishing the fight with lethal body shots while also displaying better defensive and offensive grappling. McCann made the fight more competitive in the later rounds but Brasil maintained the lead to earn a unanimous decision victory.
Highly touted bantamweight prospect Caolan Loughran fought Jake Hadley on the preliminary card. Hadley took the fight on a four-days' notice after Loughran's original opponent Ramon Tavares was forced to pull out.
Despite taking the fight on short notice, Hadley was able to outwork Loughran with clean striking while staying out of danger for the most part. He secured a unanimous decision win to snap a two-fight skid.
In one of the most intriguing flyweight matchups, No.6-ranked Muhammad Mokaev and No.8-ranked Manel Kape fought to further their quests for the title shot. The clash of styles saw Muhammad's wrestling-heavy approach go up against Kape's lethal striking.
After a relatively inactive first round, Mokaev was able to take Kape down and control him for the majority of the second and third rounds en route to a unanimous decision victory.
To his credit, Kape landed some of the biggest shots of the fight and continued to fight after an apparent toe injury in the second round. However, he could not stop Mokaev from implementing his style. Meanwhile, Mokaev appeared to have committed an intentional foul by pulling at his opponent's shorts.
UFC 304 early prelims results: Three fights end in finishes
The early prelims headlining bout saw a classic grappler, Preston Parsons, take on a well-rounded opponent in Oban Elliott in the welterweight division. Eliott won via unanimous decision.
Elsewhere, Sam Patterson and Modestas Bukauskas picked submission wins over Kiefer Crosbie and Marcin Prachnio, respectively. British heavyweight Mick Parkin finished Lukasz Brzeski by first-round KO to register his first stoppage win in the UFC.
In the first fight of the night, Shauna Bannon defeated Alice Ardelean by split decision.
Check out the full event results below:
Main Card
Welterweight - Belal Muhammad def. Leon Edwards by unanimous decision (48-47 X 2, 49-46) (Title fight)
Heavyweight - Tom Aspinall def. Curtis Blaydes by T/KO (R1, 1:00) (Interim title fight)
Lightweight - Paddy Pimblett def. King Green (formerly Bobby Green) by technical submission (Arm-triangle choke) (R1, 3:22)
Middleweight - Gregory Rodrigues def. Christian Leroy Duncan by unanimous decision (30-27 X 3)
Featherweight - Arnold Allen def. Giga Chikadze by unanimous decision (29-28 X 3)
Preliminary Card
Featherweight - Nathaniel Wood def. Daniel Pineda by unanimous decision (29-27 X 2, 29-28)
Women's strawweight - Bruna Brasil def. Molly McCann by unanimous decision (30-27 X 2, 29-28)
Bantamweight - Jake Hadley def. Caolan Loughran by unanimous decision (30-27 X 2, 29-28)
Flyweight - Muhammad Mokaev def. Manel Kape by unanimous decision (29-28 X 2, 30-27)
Early Prelims
Welterweight - Oban Elliott def. Preston Parsons by unanimous decision (30-27 X 2, 29-28)
Light heavyweight - Modestas Bukauskas def. Marcin Prachnio by submission (Arm-triangle choke) (R3, 3:12)
Welterweight - Sam Patterson def. Kiefer Crosbie by submission (Arm-triangle choke) (R1, 2:50)
Heavyweight - Mick Parkin def. Lukasz Brzeski by T/KO (R1, 3:23)
Women's strawweight - Shauna Bannon def. Alice Ardelean by split decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)