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Tom Aspinall | Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images England’s champions are rolling in to Manchester as scheduled. Titleholders Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall were both on weight for their championship defenses at Friday’s official weigh-ins for UFC 304, with Edwards weighing in at 170 pounds for his third welterweight title defense against rival Belal Muhammad (169), and Aspinall tipping the scales at 251 pounds for his interim heavyweight title defense against Curtis Blaydes (256). Watch highlights of the morning weigh-ins above. Both headlining bouts are rematches of anticlimactic fights. Edwards’ first fight with Muhammad ended in a no-contest due to Muhammad being unable to continue after receiving an eye poke in the second round, while Aspinall’s first fight with Blaydes ended in just 15 seconds when Aspinall suffered a knee injury. With everyone’s weight on point, the stage is set for the fighters to settle the score once and for all. Of the 28 fighters competing Saturday at Co-op Live, all but one successfully made weight. The lone miss was bantamweight Jake Hadley, who steps in on less than two weeks’ notice for Ramon Taveras to fight Caolan Loughran. Hadley, who normally competes in the flyweight division, weighed in at 137 pounds, one pound over the limit for a non-title bantamweight bout. Officials announced that Hadley vs. Loughran will proceed as a catchweight, with Hadley forfeiting 20 percent of his purse as penalty. See official UFC 304 weigh-in results below. Main Card (ESPN+ pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET) Leon Edwards (170) vs. Belal Muhammad (169) Tom Aspinall (251) vs. Curtis Blaydes (256) Paddy Pimblett (156) vs. King Green (154.5) Christian Leroy Duncan (185) vs. Gregory Rodrigues (185) Arnold Allen (145) vs. Giga Chikadze (146) Preliminary Card (ESPN2, ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET) Nathaniel Wood (145) vs. Daniel Pineda (146) Molly McCann (116) vs. Bruna Brasil (116) Caolan Loughran (136) vs. Jake Hadley (137)* Modestas Bukauskas (204) vs. Marcin Prachnio (205) Early Preliminary Card (ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET) Oban Elliott (170) vs. Preston Parsons (169) Muhammad Mokaev (126) vs. Manel Kape (125.5) Sam Patterson (170) vs. Kiefer Crosbie (171) Mick Parkin (264) vs. Lukasz Brzeski (235) Shauna Bannon (115) vs. Alice Ardelean (116) *missed weight. Hadley’s bout with Caolan Loughran proceeds as a catchweight with Hadley forfeiting 20 percent of his purse as penalty

Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images At the UFC 304 official weigh-ins, all 28 fighters on Saturday’s fight card step on the scale early Friday morning in Manchester, England. Watch MMA Fighting’s official weigh-in highlights above. In the main event, UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards meets Belal Muhammad in a rematch from March 2021. The first bout ended in a no-contest due to Muhammad being unable to continue after an accidental eye poke. Edwards seeks to defend his title for a third consecutive time. Edwards and Muhammad can weigh no more than 170 pounds, the maximum limit for a welterweight championship bout. In the co-main event, also a rematch, interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall takes on Curtis Blaydes. Blaydes officially holds a win over Aspinall after their first encounter in July 2022 ended in just 15 seconds when Aspinall blew out his knee. Aspinall rebounded with two first-round knockouts to claim an interim belt. Aspinall and Blaydes can weigh no more than 265 pounds, the maximum limit for a heavyweight championship bout. The UFC 304 official weigh-in video will be at 10 a.m. ET. A replay of the morning weigh-in live stream can be watched below. The UFC 304 ceremonial weigh-ins will be at 7 p.m. ET. See UFC 304 weigh-in results below. Main Card (ESPN+ pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET) Leon Edwards (170) vs. Belal Muhammad (169) Tom Aspinall (251) vs. Curtis Blaydes (256) Paddy Pimblett (156) vs. King Green (154.5) Christian Leroy Duncan (185) vs. Gregory Rodrigues (185) Arnold Allen (145) vs. Giga Chikadze (146) Preliminary Card (ESPN2, ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET) Nathaniel Wood (145) vs. Daniel Pineda (146) Molly McCann (116) vs. Bruna Brasil (116) Caolan Loughran (136) vs. Jake Hadley (137)* Modestas Bukauskas (204) vs. Marcin Prachnio (205) Early Preliminary Card (ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET) Oban Elliott (170) vs. Preston Parsons (169) Muhammad Mokaev (126) vs. Manel Kape (125.5) Sam Patterson (170) vs. Kiefer Crosbie (171) Mick Parkin (264) vs. Lukasz Brzeski (235) Shauna Bannon (115) vs. Alice Ardelean (116) *missed weight. Hadley’s bout with Caolan Loughran proceeds as a catchweight with Hadley forfeiting 20 percent of his purse as penalty

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Ronda Rousey is about to be a mom for the second time. The former UFC women’s bantamweight champion made the announcement on Thursday at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con. The UFC Hall of Famer turned WWE star was promoting her upcoming graphic novel Expect the Unexpected on a panel hosted by Dave Bautista. “This experience in itself has been so rewarding, and with your support, I hope to continue to be a graphic novelist,” Rousey said (h/t Extra). “It doesn’t attack my body as much so maybe I can keep doing this until I’m an old lady, or at least while I keep on popping out these babies. “Did anyone notice I’m very pregnant right now? Yeah, I’m just as pregnant as ‘Mom’ is in the majority of the comic.” On Friday, Rousey added more details in an Instagram post, announcing that she’ll be having a second daughter. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ronda Rousey (@rondarousey) Rousey, who is married to former UFC heavyweight Travis Browne, has a two-year-old daughter La’akea, who was born in September 2021. A Kickstarter campaign is ongoing for the 160-page graphic novel.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Former UFC fighter Matt Hamill has a suggestion for heavyweight champion Jon Jones and UFC CEO Dana White. Hamill currently holds the only victory over Jones from a 2009 bout where Jones was disqualified for landing a slew of 12-to-6 elbows — which was an illegal strike. Earlier this week, the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) approved a rule change making the strike legal moving forward. Jones reacted to the news on social media, asking White to assist with getting the loss officially off of his record. The former standout on The Ultimate Fighter, and the first deaf competitor in UFC history, gave his thoughts on the matter, and suggested a rematch to settle it once and for all. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Matt Hamill (@hammerhamill) “Let’s cut [to the chase Dana White] - I know you’re desperate to get [Jon Jones] an undefeated record. I see how you want to profit from that! [It’s] also why you bail him out of all the other things. “How about a rematch? I’ll be happy to fight him for a heavyweight title. If I beat him, I want a UFC belt. Let me know if Stipe Miocic backs out. I’ll take [it on] short notice, just remember he already lost to me.” Hamill competed in the octagon 15 times, winning 10 of those bouts. “The Hammer” hasn’t competed in the UFC since losing to Thiago Silva at UFC Fight Night 29 nearly 11 years ago. Hamill, however, has won his two two straight bouts on the regional scene, including a split decision win in Pennsylvania promotion Maverick MMA in his most recent fight in April 2018.

Israel Adesanya | Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images Israel Adesanya respects what Belal Muhammad has done to earn a title shot, but he believes Leon Edwards is a terrible stylistic matchup for him. Edwards and Muhammad meet for a second time in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 304 fight card in Manchester, England. Muhammad is unbeaten in 10 fights, making him a deserving challenger. However, Adesanya doesn’t see Muhammad getting his hand raised — or even making it to the scorecards. “Belal’s got pressure, man,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “It just seems like he’s able to get to people and put his will on them. “But I’ll tell you one thing, Leon just seems like he’s on a f*cking massacre right now. He’s on a run. ... Leon might finish him. I think Leon finishes this fight.” Adesanya is playing the title challenger role in his own right as he prepares to face Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight championship at UFC 305 in Perth on Aug. 17. Breaking down the second meeting between Edwards and Muhammad following a no-contest after an accidental eye poke in their first meeting in March 2021, Adesanya saw Edwards have a lot of success early. While he understands both men have improved drastically since their first meeting, Adesanya believes Edwards will need to have an off night for Muhammad to pull of the upset. “I’m trying to see how Belal can win this fight,” Adesanya said. “To get to Leon with wrestling, he has good distance, good weapons to make sure you don’t want to get close. If you get close, it doesn’t mean you’re safe because he can take you down, too. “This seems like a bad match for Belal. I’m not hating on Belal or anything, I’m just trying to see what’s his path to victory in this. Striking, Leon’s got it. Grappling, you want to lean towards Belal, but Leon is right up there. It’s Leon’s fight to win, it’s Leon’s fight to lose.”