Tom Aspinall's record in full before heavyweight title fight at UFC 304 in Manchester

UFC returns to Manchester for the first time in nearly eight years on Saturday, July 27, with Salford-born Tom Aspinall co-main eventing the show.

As the interim heavyweight champion, following his 69-second knockout against Sergei Pavlovich back in November 2023, Aspinall will defend his crown for the first time.

Following an injury to Jon Jones, which saw his fight against Stipe Miocic cancelled, Aspinall stepped in with just two weeks notice and beat Pavlovich to become interim champion and now he will be in a marquee fight at UFC 304.

Alongside Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammad for the Welterweight title, Aspinall is set to face off against Curtis Blaydes in a rematch from 2022. The two men main evented UFC Fight Night in London, however it ended after just 15 seconds when Aspinall suffered a serious knee injury.

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Since being forced to concede his last fight with Blaydes, Aspinall has defeated Marcin Tybura at UFC Fight Night in London and Pavlovich at UFC 295. Prior to that, the 31-year-old also secured wins over Alexander Volkov, Sergey Spivak, Andrei Arlovski, Alan Baudot and Jake Collier.

The unfortunate loss to Blaydes remains his only one in UFC and it is very clear Aspinall is out to avenge that. "I want to put this one to bed and I want to be done with it," Aspinall tells the Manchester Evening News.

"And it’s nice to do it in Manchester. This might be the only [UFC] fight I ever have in Manchester because if I win this one, which I should do - confident I will do, I’m probably going to be Stateside for the