UFC 304 proved to be a mixed night for UK mixed martial arts.
Tom Aspinall remained on course for a historic unification bout against Jon Jones with a quick finish of Curtis Blaydes on the Manchester card.
The 31-year-old obliterated the American in just 60 SECONDS to retain his interim heavyweight title a stone’s throw away from his home town of Atherton.
Leon Edwards‘ reign as welterweight champion, however, came to a shock end at the hands of Belal Muhammad.
The Brummie succumbed to the Palestinian-American’s suffocating wrestling for the best part of five rounds on his way to suffering a unanimous decision defeat.
SunSport was live on the scene at the brand-spanking-new Co-op Live Arena
And we spotted several things TV cameras didn’t show.
Check them out below.
Plymouth Argyle boss Wayne Rooney was in attendance from the very first fight of the night, in which Shauna Bannon picked up her first win in the promotion against Alice Ardelean.
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But he didn’t make a grand entrance, keeping a low profile in a black hoodie and black baseball cap.
His presence at the card didn’t come as a surprise as he’s an avid boxing fan and has been in attendance at UFC events before.
He’ll no doubt be playing catch-up with his sleep given the card finished at 6:15am on Sunday morning.
Manel Kape suffered a decision defeat in his prelim clash with Muhammad Mokaev, who Dana White stunningly RELEASED after the card.
Midway through the second round, he appeared to try realign his right big toe after grazing a leg kick off the knee of Mokaev.
It clearly hindered his movement for the remainder of the stanza, although it didn’t stop him from putting the pressure on in the final round.
But he cut a hurt figure as he made his way past press row, where SunSport spotted his toe looking well and truly out of place.
Endeavour CEO Ari Emmanuel made the trip across the pond to take in the stacked Brit card. But he wasn’t his usual super dapper self.
He opted to go for a more casual look, wearing a T-shirt – an Elon Musk vs Mark Zuckerberg one to be precise – for the early morning card.
And who could blame him? Personally, I wouldn’t want to be dressed to the nines past midnight.
A mass brawl erupted moments after Edwards’ reign as UFC welterweight champion ended.
And moments after Muhammad’s hand was raised, a scuffle kicked off near the cageside seats.
It’s unclear what started the melee, which security were quickly on top of.
Footage showed one fan picking up a chair in a bid to throw it at a fellow punter.
Thankfully, security managed to put a lid on things and separate those involved.
Muhammad couldn’t help but stick it to his pre-fight doubters as he walked past press row.
The new king of the welterweights proudly and defiantly said: “Doubt me now.
“Doubt me now!”
