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For Tom Aspinall, it was in the knee: the sharp, sudden cruelty of ligaments tearing. For Leon Edwards, it was under the eyelid – but not his own: instead it was under Belal Muhammad’s, as Edwards’s outstretched finger snuck between the banks of flesh and jabbed at the eyeball.
For Aspinall, it meant a TKO loss to Curtis Blaydes in London. It was an injury that took just 15 seconds to sustain, but which would keep him out of the cage for a year. A whole different sort of caged for the Wigan heavyweight. For Edwards, it meant a No Contest against Muhammad. It was an indiscretion that would cost the Jamaican-born Birmingham fighter a win, and a shot at the welterweight title. Like Aspinall, it would also cost him the best part of a year of his career.
When Aspinall bounced back, it was in the same arena, one year later – almost to the day. He did not ease fears about whether he would be the same after his injury; he erased them entirely, knocking out Marcin Tybura in just over one minute. When Edwards bounced back, it was several months after his blank result against Muhammad, as he survived a late scare to outpoint the icon Nate Diaz.
But Edwards’s title shot, so many years in the making, would have to wait another year; it was in August 2022 that he finally got his rematch with Kamaru Usman – who had outpointed Edwards in 2015 – and produced arguably the greatest knockout and post-fight speech of all time. With that, the tears of frustration he shed after his mistake against Muhammad became tears of joy and relief.
For Aspinall, a short-notice call last autumn would result in similar tears, just not immediately. It was a phone call that ushered Aspinall into an interim-title bout against the terrifying Sergei Pavlovich, after Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic – a fight for the regular belt – fell through. Aspinall, on a November night in NYC, proved that it was Pavlovich who should have been scared, knocking out the monstrous Russian with the same swiftness that saw off Tybura.
So, catharsis for both Britons – the second and third from their nation to hold titles in UFC history – right? Almost. But not yet.
Saturday can bring a more direct resolution to those trying moments in Aspinall and Edwards’s careers. The resolution, if it is to come, will do so in the form of rematches.
In the main event of UFC 304 in Manchester, Edwards will defend the welterweight title against Muhammad. Moments earlier, in the middle of the night per the UFC’s scheduling, Aspinall defends the interim heavyweight belt against Blaydes. For Aspinall, 31, and Edwards, 32, Saturday represents a chance to right the strangest of wrongs.
Aspinall can prove that – if not for his injury – he would have done to Blaydes what he has done to everyone else in his UFC run. In his seven other outings, Aspinall has finished every opponent within two rounds, and he holds the shortest average fight time of any UFC athlete with five or more bouts (his loss to Blaydes ironically helped there, actually). Meanwhile, Edwards says he sees round one of his rematch with Muhammad as a resumption of their first fight – in which the Briton was putting on a clinic.
Furthermore, a win for Aspinall would move him closer to a bout with Jones, theoretically. UFC president Dana White said at Thursday’s press conference that the winner of Aspinall vs Blaydes will “absolutely” challenge the winner of Jones vs Miocic, which the UFC is intent on rebooking as Jones edges closer to a return from injury.
In reality that fight, billed as the greatest light-heavyweight ever in Jones vs the greatest heavyweight ever in Miocic, is a delayed meeting between aged and inactive forces. Miocic, soon to turn 42, last fought in March 2021, when he was brutally knocked out by Francis Ngannou; Jones, who just turned 37, has fought once in the last four years, though he admittedly impressed with an early submission of Ciryl Gane 16 months ago.
Jones is the heavy favourite, meaning some look at Jones vs Aspinall as the fight to crown the rightful heavyweight champion. Yet that is not only to overlook Miocic but also Blaydes. The American, 33, is one of the best wrestlers in the division and carries as much power in his hands as most at this weight. Aspinall believes Blaydes is an even greater stylistic challenge for him than Jones, who (it must be said) does not seem especially keen on fighting Aspinall. Jones may even retire before the Briton gets his hands on him.
For Edwards, it is less about what comes next and more about what has already transpired. In retaining the welterweight title against Usman and Colby Covington – a former champion and a former interim champion – with a pair of clinical performances last year, he established himself as the best in the world, and the embodiment of the modern mixed martial artist: as well-rounded and slick as they come. He has also already surpassed Michael Bisping’s one title defence, eclipsing the first British champion in UFC history.
But Muhammad, like Edwards, is on a streak at 170lb. The Palestinian-American is unbeaten in 10 fights across five years, including the pair’s No Contest, while Edwards is unbeaten in 13 fights across nine years. Neither man has produced many finishes in that time, meaning UFC 304’s main event could be a chess match.
It will be interesting to see how the Manchester crowd reacts to that at 5am local time. It will be a strange time to right some strange wrongs.
