Dana White made some huge announcements regarding UFC Manchester on Instagram announcing the main and co-main events. Dana announced that Leon Edwards will be headlining defending his title against Belal Muhammad in a rematch. On top of that the co-main is Tom Aspinall set to defend his interim-title against Curtis Blaydes in another rematch. The card also contains Pimblett vs Green, Mokaev vs Kape, and Chikadze vs Allen.
The announcement of main and co-main all but confirmed the rumours of Aspinall and Edwards being on the card. It just makes sense you’re in the UK so you bring out the 2 British champs. On top of that Manchester is Aspinall’s home crowd being a Manchunian himself. Manchester isn’t too far off Birmingham Leon’s home crowd so with these 2 headlining the show is bound to attract a crowd.
UFC Manchester Mains: Edwards and Aspinall
In terms of match ups both the main and co-main make sense. Belal Muhammad is currently the most deserving welterweight to get the title shot and it’s ridiculous it’s taken this long. It’s insane that Colby Covington someone who had sat out for a year not fighting any contenders got a shot before Belal. But, better late than never. The main event serves to be a rematch with their first fight ending with an eye poke from Edwards. Prior to the eye poke Edwards was uncharacteristically aggressive piecing up Belal hurting him badly in round 1. So it’ll be interesting to see how the fight plays out now with a new and improved Belal and champion Edwards.
The rematch between Aspinall and Blaydes is also a no brainer. Obviously the ideal fight for Tom would be Jones however he is still injured and seems intent to keep ducking Aspinall. The only other fight that would make sense is Gane however he will likely be on UFC Paris 28th September and just had a title shot against Jones one fight ago. On the other hand Blaydes has just come off an impressive victory over up and comer Jailton Almeida. Blaydes is also the only man in the UFC to “beat” Aspinall.
Their first fight ended in tragedy when Aspinall blew out his knee 15 seconds into round 1 causing him to drop to the floor in agony. The fight was ruled a TKO victory for Blaydes. So now Tom has the chance to avenge his only “loss” in the UFC in his home city of Manchester. This is very intriguing as their fight was only just heating up before tragedy struck. So now we shall see a healthy Aspinall take on Blaydes in his first defence of his interim-title.
The Undercard
The undercard is shaping up to be a good one. We have Paddy Pimblett against Bobby Green Paddy’s first opponent in the top 15. This serves to be Paddy’s first real test with his prior opposition not really being that high level. The best fighter Paddy had previously fought is a washed up Tony Ferguson who should probably be retired. Green is coming off a brutal victory over Jim Miller looking to rain on the parade. The fight should be entertaining and a good test for Paddy who has a habit of keeping his chin in the air.
Muhammad Mokaev is fighting Manuel Kape on the undercard. The rising contender Mokaev looks to continue his win streak and make his way to gold. Recently Mokaev didn’t impress wet blanketing his way to a decision over Alex Perez. So Mokaev has a point to prove that he is a force to be reckoned with at flyweight. Kape looks to redeem himself to fans after missing weight against Felipe Dos Santos and pulling out against Nicolau. This fight may very well determine who gets the next title shot against Pantoja.
Also Arnold Allen is set to fight Giga Chikadze. Allen looks to end his losing streak losing back to back against Holloway and a close decision against Evloev. Getting back in the win column would massively help revitalise Allen’s title aspirations and put the division on notice. Similairly, Giga also looks to make a statement and remind the division of who he is. After being utterly dominated by Calvin Kattar and some time out Giga came back with an okay win over Caraces. Both fighters aim to make a statement particularly Allen in front of the UK crowd.
Overall, this card is shaping up nicely and could be one for the books./separator
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images and Embed from Getty Images
