UFC Takeaways from 304: Can Muhammad finally shine? Is Jones-Aspinall a possibility?

Two title fights are on the line there is only one winner who will remain in the fight. It’s difficult to make sense of the tense UFC 304 in Manchester.

By ESPN

July 28, 2024 at 6:00 AM

Jul 28 2024, 02:00 AM ET

A 14-fight card in UFC 304 in Manchester, England and was followed by a pair of title fights replays. Belal Muhammad dethroned Leon Edwards to become the new champion of welterweight. In the main event, Tom Aspinall defeated his opponent, Curtis Blydes and left the crowd in no doubt as to why he’s among the best strikers in world. To help you understand the whole thing, Brett Okamoto, Andreas Hale and Jeff Wagenheim share their thoughts on the final event.

It was time to allow Leon Edwards to put on an outstanding display. It was early into the early morning of Sunday and the sun was still setting and the crowd at the Co-op Live arena were awake and ready to roar for the show after watching two other local legends, Tom Aspinall and Paddy Pimblett who scored rousing opening round finals.

Edwards didn’t send the people home with a smile However. It wasn’t simply due to the fact that the fighter lost his UFC world title in the hands of Belal Muhammad. When the verdict was read out at the time, the sun was rising in Manchester but the energy within the venue was already slowed. The main fight had been taken place with the opponent dominating places on the canvas or in clinches when he had accumulated more than 12 minutes of controlled time. Muhammad was never able to seriously challenge the finish however he did give Edwards the chance to put on an impressive performance, and gave the British supporters had no reasons to cheer.

That’s exactly the exact thing Muhammad claimed that he was planning to perform. But it seemed unlikely given the fact that Edwards previous three fights were against wrestlers who were strong like Kamaru Usman twice and Colby Covington -and the champion had most of the time kept his fights in standing which is where he’s the most risky. When Edwards as well as Muhammad first faced each other in 2021, in a match that was cut short in the first round of Round 2 in a no-contest due to an eye poke, which caused Muhammad unfit to fight, Edwards had kept the fight in places in which he could have the upper hand.

But not this the first time. Although Edwards had an impressive third round, taking down a fighter early and then threatening to take him down up to the horn, and even though he reverted to his final round and hit an elbow late in the round that smacked Muhammad’s face and bleeding, the soon-to-be dethroned champion could not sustain a consistently good offense. His reign as champion slowed out.

The result is that Muhammad is the newest everyday man to be awarded an UFC belt following the footsteps of fighters like Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis fighters who have put on winning performances but don’t have the star power UFC brass seeks. Muhammad deserves all the praise for his victory But will the accolades get his way?

UFC star-building machine has not fully accepted Edwards. So good luck to Muhammad who had to wait for a long time before getting his chance. He went for a streak of 10 fights without losing before being offered a fight with Edwards. He benefited from the opportunity on this evening but the smothering manner of his victory championship would’ve rendered the fight a complete flop even if it wasn’t before the fans at home of his opponent, and the late early hours of the night. — Wagenheim

Do you think Jon Jones going to be able to answer the phone in Tom’s name?

Hale What Aspinall needed was one minute to take revenge on the only blemish to his UFC record by defeating Blaydes. Outside of Ciryl Gane, there’s nothing else to Aspinall to face who could pose a legitimate threat.

In addition to an TKO defeat due to an injury, Aspinall has wiped out the top in the division of heavyweight with almost fight. Aspinall’s past three fights with Blaydes, Sergei Pavlovich and Marcin Tybura have been a total of 3 hours and two seconds each of which lasted less than 90 minutes. Aspinall was in the Octagon with a combat time of 2:10, which is the most tiniest time in UFC history. The 60 seconds required to knock out Blaydes will increase his lead.

To be fair, Jones has every right to disregard the warning and go out into the sunset after the fight is probably won by Stipe Miocic during the month of November. It probably won’t reduce his standing as the best mixed martial artist, given that he’s got greater risk than reward from fighting Aspinall.

If Jones is determined to prove Jones is still the top fighter on the planet, Jones will have to take on the biggest test in the UFC professional career: a fighter who is stronger and faster than any other fighter he’s been in the Octagon in with.

As significant as the battle with Jones as well as Francis Ngannou was believed to be however, the danger of Aspinall has surpassed that and has made Jones-Aspinall the most significant fight that could be fought in the UFC in addition to any fight with Conor McGregor.

Paddy Pimblett was always this great

Okamoto This is how to know that Pimblett is doing his job of convincing people to pay attention to him -the reaction to his performance.

When he defeated Jared Gordon, in a battle that many scored for Gordon it was apparent that both pundits and fans alike could not just wait to get from this bandwagon. When he failed to beat a veteran Tony Ferguson, the “overrated” narrative began to grow. Then, following a single (albeit) amazing submission win against King Green, all of a sudden, social media is filled with “Paddy is real” remarks?

The game in general is swaying too far with each Pimblett game. What did he accomplish on this past weekend that we didn’t realize what he could accomplish? We know that he plays an extremely dangerous game on the ground. We’ve seen that he can appear whenever the light highest. It’s not to minimize his past actions. In fact, it’s the opposite.

This was the greatest victory for him in the UFC history to this point. But why are we claiming that it revealed something that we didn’t know about? I was aware that Pimblett could do this and I believe the UFC was aware of it too. The top division will continue to be a challenge for Pimblett. It always will be. The issue of just the extent to which he’s able to go remains to be answered. Perhaps for some, this latest performance is proof that he’s really there however I had the impression that we knew for certain that he was.