Injuries are part of the game in MMA, but there’s nothing worse than one ends a marquee UFC fight.
While the term “freak injury” might not be appropriate to use when discussing a sport that is inherently dangerous, 14 UFC main events have ended in unforeseen injuries – broken legs, separated shoulders, eye pokes, etc. – that don’t typically come in the sequence of MMA combat.
Scroll below to see a chronology of UFC main events that ended in that nature.
Note: Injuries sustained on a TKO due to strikes or tapout due to a submission are not included, nor are retirements on the stool due to extended fight damage or exhaustion. Laceration-based stoppages also are not included since they come as an intentional result of the opposition’s attack.
The UFC returns to England in July, and two titles will be on the line in rematches.
The UFC returns to England in July, and two titles will be on the line in rematches.
UFC 304 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) is set for July 27 at Co-op Live in Manchester. It will be the promotion’s first visit to England’s second largest city in nearly eight years. Earlier this week, the UFC released the event’s official poster, and it features all four headliners.
In the headliner, England’s own [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] (21-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) defends his welterweight title in a rematch against [autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] (23-3 MMA, 14-3 UFC). Muhammad will attempt to become the first Palestinian to win a UFC title.
Muhammad has been waiting more than three years for another shot at Edwards. They fought in March 2021, but the main event ended in a no contest when Muhammad was poked in the eye and was unable to continue. Edwards won the title two fights later against Kamaru Usman in a big upset, then beat him in a rematch to defend it and beat Colby Covington this past December, as well.
In the co-feature, England’s [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) will defend his interim heavyweight title for the first time in a rematch against [autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC). Champion Jon Jones has been out with an injury and is expected to fight former champ Stipe Miocic upon his return, not interim champ Aspinall.
In their first meeting, Blaydes won by TKO in just 15 seconds when Aspinall blew out his knee nearly two years ago. That led to a lengthy recovery and rehab, but he won the interim belt two fights into his return. Aspinall has had just one of his 14 wins go out of the first round.
Check out the UFC 304 poster below.
The latest UFC 304 lineup includes:
Champ Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad – for welterweight title
Interim champ Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes – for interim heavyweight title
Bobby Green vs. Paddy Pimblett
Manel Kape vs. Muhammad Mokaev
Arnold Allen vs. Giga Chikadze
Daniel Pineda vs. Nathaniel Wood
Oban Elliott vs. Preston Parsons
Shauna Bannon vs. Ravena Oliveira
Bruna Brasil vs. Molly McCann
Caolan Loughran vs. Ramon Taveras
Lukasz Brzeski vs. Mick Parkin
Modestas Bukauskas vs. Marcin Prachnio
Kiefer Crosbie vs. Sam Patterson
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 304.
Tom Aspinall is unsure how to handle fighting Curtis Blaydes overnight at UFC 304.
[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] is unsure how to handle fighting [autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] overnight at UFC 304.
Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) defends his interim title in a rematch against Curtis Blaydes (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) in the July 27 co-main event (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Co-op Live in Manchester, England.
The UFC 304 main card starts at 3 a.m. BST (10 p.m. ET) on ESPN+ pay-per-view, following the traditional start times for U.S. pay-per-views. That means Aspinall is expected to make the walk at around 4:30 a.m. local time.
Aspinall originally had an idea of doing his training camp in Las Vegas to adjust to the odd timings, but quickly realized that it wouldn’t be too wise.
“In all honesty, I have no idea right now,” Aspinall told Submission Radio. “I’m a bit lost at the thought of it. My original thought was I’m going to go to Vegas. I’m going to train in Vegas, and I’m going to get on Vegas time and I’m going to stick with that.
“Then I was, like, sh*t, Vegas is like 18 hours away. For me to be on Vegas time and then five, six days before the fight come back to Manchester and travel 18 hours, that’s exhausting just within itself whether you’re on a time difference or not. So I pushed that to the side.”
Aspinall thinks it’s best to seek help and advice from others. He finds it weird to have to completely adjust his sleep schedule while being in the U.K.
“In all honesty, I f*cking – I don’t know,” Aspinall said. “I don’t know what I’m doing at this point. I’m going to speak to a couple of people probably who are a lot smarter than I am and see if we can make some kind of compromise.
“I was thinking something like maybe I’ll try and sleep at like 9 p.m., wake up about 1 or 2 (a.m.), just be awake for a couple of hours, and then maybe work out at like 5, maybe go back to sleep for a couple of hours at like 7, 8. I don’t really know … I don’t really know.”
Jailton Almeida hopes Tom Aspinall can learn from his mistakes when he defends his interim title against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304.
[autotag]Jailton Almeida[/autotag] hopes [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] can learn from his mistakes when he defends his interim heavyweight title against [autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] at UFC 304.
Almeida (19-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC), who meets Alexandr Romanov on Saturday at UFC 302 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. (pay-per-view, ESPN2, ESPN+), is coming off a difficult loss to Blaydes in his most recent performance. He was winning the fight early after scoring nine takedowns in the opening round, but then Blaydes turned the tide and earned a knockout from ground strikes early in the second frame at UFC 299 in March.
The Brazilian admits he got overeager against Blaydes due to his early success, and that ultimately cost him as he was unable to show patience and maintain the same pace over the course of three rounds.
He said Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) needs to study that approach going into his rematch with Blaydes (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) on June 27 at Co-op Live in Manchester, England, and advises the interim champ not to overextend himself in the early moments of the bout.
“I think Aspinall is going to win,” Almeida told MMA Junkie through an interpreter. “He’s a more complete fighter. He has a lot of respect for his career. I do believe that Curtis is a very strategic fighter and Aspinall will have to be very patient, just as I wasn’t. Aspinall will have to be very patient and understand to when he can throw himself at Curtis, because Curtis will be waiting for him. On the floor, probably.”
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Blaydes got a victory over Aspinall in their first meeting at UFC Fight Night 208 in July 2022, but it was far from satisfying. Aspinall went down with an injury just 15 seconds into the headlining bout, and now the pair get the opportunity to have a sequel without controversy.
In the meantime, Almeida, No. 10 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie heavyweight rankings, will be looking to reestablish himself as a contender against Romanov and set himself up for a future encounter with No. 2-ranked Aspinall or rematch with No. 5-ranked Blaydes.
“I want to fight Aspinall in the future, and I also would like to come back and fight with Curtis once again,” Almeida said. “I’m looking for revenge, and I know the first step is to have a victory (at UFC 302).”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 302 and UFC 304.
Tom Aspinall says the upside of defending his interim title vs. Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 is limited because he’s “not that popular.”
[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] admits he’s risking a whole lot by rematching [autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] in the UFC 304 co-main event.
Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) will attempt to defend his interim heavyweight title when he runs it back with Blaydes (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) on July 27 at Co-op Live in Manchester, England (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+). His dream scenario was a unification bout with Jon Jones, but after acknowledging that’s likely not going to materialize with “Bones” determined to face Stipe Miocic next, he agreed to move on.
The offer that came through was a rematch with Blaydes, who Aspinall suffered his lone UFC loss against when he suffered a knee injury just 15 seconds into their UFC Fight Night 208 headliner in July 2022. Aspinall likes the idea of getting back the result on his record against Blaydes, but outside of that, he said the upside is minimal.
“There’s unfinished business there, evidently,” Aspinall told The Mac Life. “I’ve said this all along. I’ve said this before we last fought, which is over two years ago now: I believe that Curtis is the toughest matchup in the division for me stylistically. This is no disrespect to Curtis – it’s a bit of a lose-lose fight in the fact that he’s not that popular, is what I’m saying. He’s not that popular.
“The guys that you want to fight are the guys who stylistically you match up well with, and they’re really popular. They’re the guys you want to fight, and Curtis is kind of the opposite of that. I’m not saying anything bad about Curtis or anything, but he’s not the most popular guy ever, and he’s really good. I’m looking forward to it, though. None of that really makes a difference to me. I am preparing now 100 percent for Curtis.”
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After the interim title contest was booked for UFC 304, Jones chimed in on the “No. 1 contender bout” and said he thinks Blaydes could pull off a legitimate victory this time around.
Aspinall doesn’t begrudge Jones for that assessment, but is not bothered by it, because he’s the one fighting in just over two months time, while Jones remains on the sidelines.
“He might (beat me) – it’s heavyweight MMA at the top level,” Aspinall said. “Someone always might win. And I believe in myself. Yeah, I think I’m good. I think I’m the best in the world. But does that make me invincible? No. Absolutely not. It’s heavyweight MMA. One shot off Curtis and the ref might be waking me up. That’s how it works. This is heavyweight MMA at the peak of the mountain. Of course there’s a chance I can get knocked out. I’m fully aware of that. But I’m putting it all on the line, and quite frankly, (Jones) isn’t.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 304.
UFC 304 gets stacked after the announcement of several matchups, including Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad. We break down the key fights on this card in this week’s episode of “Spinning Back Clique.”
On the latest episode of “Spinning Back Clique,” the panel reacts to the big fight announcements for UFC 304.
Last week, UFC CEO Dana White announced several key matchups for the promotion’s return to Manchester including a welterweight title fight between [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] and [autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag], [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag]’s defense of his heavyweight interim title against [autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag], and [autotag]Paddy Pimblett[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Bobby Green[/autotag].
What do these matchups mean for each respective fighter? What can we expect from these bouts?
MMA Junkie’s Goze Garcia, Farah Hannoun, Danny Segura, and host Gorgeous George break down the biggest fights on the UFC 304 card.
Watch their discussion in the video above, and also don’t miss this week’s complete episode of “Spinning Back Clique” below on YouTube.
Curtis Blaydes has no reason to hate Tom Aspinall nor will he manufacture animosity before they step in the cage again at UFC 304.
[autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] has shared the octagon before with UFC interim heavyweight champion [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] before – but not really.
When they first met in July 2022, all it took was one leg kick gone wrong from Aspinall to suffer a serious fight-ending knee injury in just 15 seconds. Two years later, Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) and Blaydes (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) are set to meet in the UFC 304 main event on July 27 at Co-Op Live in Manchester, England.
“I knew that I would have another opportunity to fight him again,” Blaydes told MMA Junkie. “Whether or not it was for a belt, I wouldn’t have been able to guess it. But I think it’s a little poetic that it is for a belt.”
Thinking back to those 15 seconds, the only real takeaway for Blaydes is that he remembers Aspinall being aggressive and unafraid to put himself within range of a takedown. “He came at me fast and hard,” Blaydes said.
Other than, there’s nothing really of use from their first encounter.
“Immediately after the fight, as I’m not even out of my shorts yet, I’m telling my coach, Vinny, ‘What can we get from this fight?'” Blaydes said. “Nothing happened. I don’t know what to take from it. … There’s not a whole lot you can take from a fight that doesn’t even last half-a-minute.”
Adding to the mystery is the fact that since Aspinall returned from a year-long layoff following their fight, he’s got just a combined 2:22 of cage time in two first-round finishes – TKO of Marcin Tybura in just 1:13 followed by his interim title-winning knockout of Sergei Pavlovich in 1:09 last November at UFC 295.
This doesn’t give Blaydes much to study in terms of film, but he knows better than to believe Aspinall isn’t a different fighter since they met.
“I’m not gonna think that over the past two-and-a-half years he hasn’t added anything else to his game,” Blaydes said. “He just hasn’t had to use it. That’s not to say he doesn’t have it.”
Blaydes, who’s won three of his past four bouts, including a second-round knockout of Jailton Almeida most recently in March, feels like his first shot at UFC gold – interim or undisputed – has been a long time coming. And it couldn’t have come against a better guy than Aspinall.
“He’s a cool dude,” Blaydes said. “There’s no beef. I don’t know if I’ll be able to, but I would like to disperse the negative narrative that you have to hate the guy you’re gonna fight. I’ve been an athlete since I was 9, never hated any of my opponents, won a lot – football, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, MMA. Never hated anybody. You don’t have to hate somebody to physically compete and do your best to win. I know he’s gonna do his best to knock me out; I’m gonna do my best to knock him out. But there’s no animosity behind it. It’s just that’s his job, that’s my job.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 304.
Tom Aspinall doesn’t plan to keep defending his UFC interim title.
[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] doesn’t plan to keep defending his UFC interim title.
Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) was hoping to unify his belt with heavyweight champion Jon Jones, but he’ll have to wait until Jones defends his belt against Stipe Miocic first.
In the meantime, Aspinall defends his interim title in a rematch against [autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) in the UFC 304 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) co-main event July 27 at the Co-op Live in Manchester, England.
Aspinall’s lone UFC loss came to Blaydes by TKO in July 2022, where he blew out his knee just 15 seconds into the fight.
“My confidence has grown loads since then,” Aspinall told talkSPORT MMA. “Just everything’s better. I’m a new version of myself than I was when I fought (Blaydes) last time, and he’s improved, as well, so whole new fight this time.”
Aspinall won’t hold his breath when it comes to fighting Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC). All he knows is that if he gets past Blaydes, he will only fight for the undisputed title next. Jones and Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) are expected to fight Nov. 9 in New York.
“I’m over it at this point,” Aspinall said of Jones. “I’m fighting Curtis Blaydes. It’s a tough fight and I’m preparing for Curtis, so Jon Jones and all the rest of the politics are pretty irrelevant to me right now. (I’m) focused on him and nothing else. … If I win this one, which I believe I will, the next fight has to be for undisputed (title) – definitely. I’ll wait it out if I have to after this one. But for right now, that doesn’t exist.”
On “Spinning Back Clique,” our panel discusses the announced matchups for UFC 304, Lerone Murphy’s big win over Edson Barboza, UFC 302, and more.
Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts.
This week’s panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Farah Hannoun and Danny Segura will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate the following topics:
UFC 304 is stacking up. The promotion announced several key matchups for its July 27 return to Manchester, England. The announcement included two title fights in [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Belal Muhammad[/autotag] for the undisputed welterweight title and [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] for the interim heavyweight belt. Additionally, [autotag]Paddy Pimblett[/autotag]’s return was revealed to be against veteran [autotag]Bobby Green[/autotag]. Tons to digest.
UFC Fight Night 241 is in the books. In the main event of the card, [autotag]Lerone Murphy[/autotag] had a breakout performance, defeating veteran [autotag]Edson Barboza[/autotag] in dominant fashion. Murphy, who’s undefeated in his MMA career, called for a top-10 opponent after the win. Who should Murphy fight next? Where does Barboza go from here? We break it all down.
PFL held yet another of their new Bellator Championship Series events, this time in Paris. In the main event of Bellator Champions Series: Paris, [autotag]Patchy Mix[/autotag] defended his bantamweight title in a close split decision win over [autotag]Magomed Magomedov[/autotag]. The co-main event saw French star [autotag]Cedric Doumbe[/autotag] make quick work of Jaleel Willis. Two big results for Bellator. So what’s next for both these fighters? We discuss.
“Spinning Back Clique” will be off on Memorial Day, but don’t worry, we got you covered with a UFC 302 preview. This week, we’ll take a look at the UFC’s next pay-per-view event, which features a UFC lightweight title bout between [autotag]Islam Makhachev[/autotag] and [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag]. We analyze what’s likely going to be Poirier’s final tine shot, along with the co-main event middleweight bout between [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] and [autotag]Paulo Costa[/autotag].
Curtis Blaydes thinks Jon Jones will hold onto his title clout as long as possibly, but won’t unify with him or Tom Aspinall after UFC 304.
[autotag]Curtis Blaydes[/autotag] isn’t holding out hope that [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] will unify the heavyweight championship with the winner of his UFC 304 co-main event vs. [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag].
With Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) recovering from injury and holding out for a title defense vs. Stipe Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) on Nov. 9 at Madison Square Garden in New York, the UFC booked a rematch with eager interim champion Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) against Blaydes (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) on July 27 at Co-op Live in Manchester, England.
In ordinary circumstances, the winner of Jones vs. Miocic would face the winner of Aspinall vs. Blaydes. It remains to be seen what Miocic would do with an upset victory, but the majority of expectations are for Jones to win and potentially retire. “Bones” teased he would make the unification happen when he dubbed Aspinall vs. Blaydes as a fight for the No. 1 contender spot, but that’s far from a commitment.
Aspinall has made it clear he thinks Jones won’t fight him, and Blaydes is in the same boat.
“If I win or if Aspinall wins, I don’t think Jon’s going to fight anyone outside of Stipe,” Blaydes told MMA Junkie on Friday. “After Stipe, he walks away into the sunset. I think he likes to toss out different scenarios like, ‘What if I fought Alex Pereira? What if I fought Aspinall? What if I fought Blaydes?’ He wants people to talk about him, which I get. The more you get talked about the better your following grows and it helps your sponsors. I get it. He’s skilled at it. He’s been on the internet for as long as I’ve had Facebook and Instagram, he’s always been a presence. He knows what he’s doing. But do I honestly believe he would risk his legacy against a guy like me? No. Cause if he beats me, what does it do for his legacy?
“Are you going to be like, ‘Oh, that was the fight that finally cemented Jon as the GOAT.’ Either you believe he’s the GOAT already, or you don’t. It’s like MJ vs. LeBron. If you already don’t believe that LeBron is the GOAT, there isn’t anything he can do to change your mind, and vice versa. If you already believe he is the GOAT. However you view Jon Jones at this moment or after he fights Stipe, that’ll be the lasting image. And I don’t think he’s going to do anything to jeopardize that.”
Blaydes, 33, said he’s not going to “hold my breath” for a clash with Jones to ever materialize, so in his mind, that raises the stakes for UFC 304. If Jones does indeed retire after Miocic, that would elevate the Aspinall vs. Blaydes winner from interim to undisputed champion. In Blaydes’ mind, though, that’s essentially what he’s already competing for.
“That’s how I’m viewing it (as an undisputed title fight),” Blaydes said. “That’s how I’m approaching it. When I told my family, my brothers, my dad, my sister, ‘I’m fighting for a belt.’ I didn’t say interim belt. I said a belt. Honestly, a majority of casual fan, they don’t know the difference. I’m sure a lot of them are probably perplexed like, ‘How does Aspinall have a belt and Jon have a belt?’ They probably don’t understand the concept of interim vs. undisputed, and they don’t care. All they see is a shiny belt and you holding it in a UFC octagon. That’s all they need. So to me, it is the real belt.”
When forecasting the future with an interim title win, Blaydes thinks it won’t be an easy process to get his undisputed status. His many years of observing Jones and his behavior leads Blaydes to think the heavyweight division is in for another messy stretch, but eventually he thinks Jones will be stripped or relinquish the strap.
“It’s not going to be a smooth transition of power,” Blaydes said. “He’s not going to just – I know I said he’s going to walk off into the sunset, but I meant he’s going to ‘retire’ unofficially, but he’s not going to officially retire for who knows. It could be a year, a year-and-a-half. However long the UFC allows him to string it along, he’ll do it.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 304.
