The former featherweight champion is certainly no stranger to high-profile title fight rematches, with ‘The Great’ now sharing his official predictions for the two world championships bout topping the bill in Manchester next weekend. UFC 304 goes down next weekend, July 27, from the Co-op Arena in Manchester, England, with two enormous world title fight rematches set for the main and co-main events respectively. faces for the interim heavyweight title; their first contest came to an unceremonious halt when the British juggernaut blew out his knee only 15 seconds into their 2022 clash.
That bout will be followed by defending his 170lb title against in the main event of the evening; their 2021 fight also ended abruptly after a nasty eye-poke resulted in a No Contest. Whilst the bookies have both British champions as the clear favorites, if there’s anyone who knows what it takes to put a decisive stamp on a title fight rematch, it’s . Breaking down the main card of UFC 304 via his official channel, Volkanovski acknowledged that whilst Tom Aspinall might be the heavy betting favorite, his opponent has the potential to defeat anyone on any given night.
“Curtis Blaydes is a great wrestler, a very hard heavyweight to fight because he always has that legit wrestling game – he’s the type of fighter that could beat anyone. “He’s getting better at trying to camouflage his shots,” noted the former featherweight champion, but shared how given his longevity in the sport, “People just seem to know what’s going to eventually come and they’re catching him coming in.” Unfortunately for Blaydes, Aspinall is undoubtedly one of the best strikers in the entire division, with 71% of his wins as a professional coming by way of KO/TKO, 11 of which have been in the first round.
“Tom Aspinall, great fighter, great wrestler, great grappler, great striker – and he’s not just a great striker, he understands the game. He understands ranges, he understands timing, and for a big guy, the way he moves is so fast.” Volkanovski even went as far as to state that “if anyone’s going to beat [at heavyweight], it’s going to be someone like Tom Aspinall.
” Simply put regarding the UFC 304 co-main event, “Curtis Blaydes is good, but Tom Aspinall is too good. “Curtis Blaydes is no mug, so he doesn’t deserve to be that much of an underdog, but I can’t pick against Tom Aspinall..
. I think he can handle the wrestling; and I think Aspinall is eventually going to catch him. I’m going to go with Tom Aspinall.
” Similar to his breakdown of Aspinall vs Blaydes, Alexander Volkanovski teased that whilst Belal Muhammad is certainly not someone to be overlooked, he just can’t see ‘Rocky’ relinquishing his command over the welterweight belt. “It’s going to be a good fight and I’m going to go with Leon Edwards,” stated the iconic former champion, making the argument that between his crispy striking and elite-level takedown defense, Edwards is just too well-rounded to not pick him. “You’ve seen his wrestling defense, you’ve seen his grappling, he’s actually very well-rounded – everyone thought he was a striker, but he was able to take Colby [Covington] down, even controlling Colby, that shows you just how good Leon Edwards is.
“His striking is beautiful, very calculated, doesn’t take any unnecessary risk but so is Belal Muhammad – a lot of people give him a hard time, he’s very calculated and doesn’t take unnecessary risk [too].” Despite their first fight ending unceremoniously, the consensus within the community is that Edwards was pouring it on Muhammad before the eye-poke and would have likely got a TKO finish either way. Given their history and the progress made by ‘Rocky’ in the years since, Volkanovski expects a more aggressive Edwards on July 27.
“I thought he [Edwards] was quite aggressive in their first fight, and I think we’re going to see that again, I feel like Leon is going to feel like he can be more aggressive with someone like Belal. “He’s going to let his hands go which is going to make him a lot more dangerous [than before] ..
. Leon is too tidy, too well trained and he’s going to turn up 100% so I have to go with Leon.” As of July 21, the UFC 304 PPV fight card includes the following bouts.
UFC 304 goes down live from Manchester, England on July 27..
