Tom Aspinall says he requested to change start times of UFC 304 in Manchester: “I tried to ask”

Tom Aspinall is set to take on Curtis Blaydes in front of a home crowd in the co-main event of UFC 304 in July. Whilst the Manchunian fanbase may be happy to have a UFC pay-per-view event in their city, the 5 AM main card starting time will be a detractor to some.

The PPV card's announcement was met with much frustration from fans, who could not understand the promotion's decision to schedule the event to start so early in the morning for the host country's fans.

The outcry was reinforced by the fact that the main and co-main event will feature UFC champions that are both from England, namely Aspinall and Leon Edwards, who will fight Belal Muhammad in the headliner.

During a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Edwards stated that the reason for UFC 304 having such awkward starting times was because it was initially meant to take place in Salt Lake City, Utah. According to 'Rocky', the promotion was unable to change the PPV times, despite a new fight location.

The interim heavyweight champion was interviewed by TheMacLife yesterday (May 23), where he revealed that he had requested that the PPV starting times be changed in favor of the UK fans. The Manchunian said this:

"I tried to ask the UFC brass, 'Can we change the times?' It didn't go down well, mate! They were just like, 'Nope.' There wasn't even any negotiations there."

Watch Tom Aspinall's interview below from 15:45:

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Tom Aspinall previews his "lose-lose" fight with Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304

Curtis Blaydes and Tom Aspinall are set to face off for a second time when they clash in the UFC 304 co-main event on July 27.

The pair previously clashed at UFC London in 2022, where disaster struck for the Manchunian as he suffered a torn ligament in his knee less than a minute into Round 1 of their main event clash.

Ahead of their rematch, the interim heavyweight champion shared his thoughts on Blaydes as a opponent while talking to TheMacLife, saying this:

"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. The guys who you want to fight are the guys who stylistically you match up well with, and they're really popular. They're the guys you wanna fight." [6:05-6:30 in Tom Aspinall's aforementioned interview]