What happened the first time Tom Aspinall and Curtis Blaydes fought?

On July 27, the UFC will return to Manchester, England to host UFC 304. This is the first time the UFC has visited Manchester since October 2016. One of the most anticipated fights of the card is the co-main event, where Tom Aspinall will defend his interim heavyweight title against No. 4 ranked Curtis Blaydes. Aspinall gets his first unofficial defense in Manchester, where he looks to avenge a major career loss.

Aspinall and Blaydes first fought in July 2022 in a main event at the UFC London fight night. Each fighter was coming off a spectacular finish over a solid contender, showing championship potential and setting themselves up for an intriguing fight. Aspinall submitted Alexander Volkov by an armbar in March 2022. Meanwhile, Blaydes violently knocked out Chris Daukus in the second round exactly a week later, in a main event in Ohio. This was set up to be a firefight between Aspinall and Blaydes.

As the main event began, Aspinall pressured immediately as Blaydes was throwing punches from the backfoot. All of Blaydes' punches barely landed, as Aspinall landed a solid calf kick. Unfortunate circumstances struck as Aspinall landed a right calf kick with major force, his left leg stepped back funny and his right knee blew out suddenly. Blaydes was declared the winner by TKO after Aspinall was unable to continue. The whole fight lasted a whopping 15 seconds. Blaydes was classy in his post-fight interview, expressing his feelings of not wanting to win in that way, as he desired to show his skills to the world.

Watch Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes 1 ahead of their UFC 304 rematch

Aspinall vs. Blaydes is an intriguing matchup due to how highly skilled each fighter is. Both are so well-rounded with their powerful striking and elite wrestling. The grappling could be competitive as Aspinall has good Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Blaydes has good top control, with ground striking. Like last time, both fighters are coming off good knockout victories, but this time, Aspinall knocked out Sergei Pavlovich and Blaydes knocked out Jailton Almeida, as both wins derailed major hype trains. With Aspinall healthy now and both bringing the same good skills, hopefully, both put on a good show.