It was only a few weeks ago that fans of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the United Kingdom received the great news that UFC 304 would be staged in Manchester on July 27, and it will be the first sporting event that will take place at the city’s new Co-op Live Arena – and we can now add a new event in Paris to the equation.
Although the full card is yet to be fully announced, some details are now beginning to come through as we progress through May, and it remains highly likely that at least one, if not both, of the British champions (Tom Aspinall and Leon Edwards) will be likely to feature and fans can see the latest UFC fight tips here.
31 year old Aspinall has already now confirmed on social media he would be fighting at the event, and it will be the first show held in Manchester since UFC 204 took place eight years ago. It will again cater to the US pay per view market, with the prelims starting at 11pm, and the main card beginning at 3am at the 23,500 capacity arena.
At the last event, former British middleweight champion Michael Bisping defended his world title against American Dan Henderson.
For those fans who may not be able to get tickets for that event, but are more than willing to make their way to France for a short get away break, this week it was also confirmed that the UFC will make a third straight return to Paris in September.
Mixed Martial Arts was only legalised in France back in 2020, but with the UFC holding their first event back in 2022, the Accor Arena in Paris is now becoming a regular part of their fight calendar, and it will be the promotion’s second European show of 2024 following on from the July Manchester event.
No fights have yet been announced for this trip, but details will undoubtedly begin emerging over the next few weeks as speculation and anticipation builds.
In the last event in Paris, French heavyweight Ciryl Gane headlined, stopping Serghei Spivac in the second round of their match up.
The 2024 schedule has already seen some interesting match ups across the disciplines, promotions and weight categories so far this year, and with these further key and major UFC additions to the calendar it can be fully expected that there will be plenty of entertaining and gripping action ahead, and there will certainly be plenty of future announcements still to come, and additional destinations and venues to be visited before the curtain comes down on this year, and plans for 2025 start to be discussed.
Much like the Manchester announcement, with Paris now confirmed, fans will likely see a plethora of talented fighters throw their own hats into the cage and announce their desire to feature on the upcoming cards, but we will simply have to see who they turn out to be, and what decisions and fights are fully preferred by the organisers for these two newly added nights of pure adrenaline driven entertainment.
There are certainly plenty of potential options, that would definitely be of interest to loyal, paying fans, of the sport.
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