Fandom’s favorite fight extravaganza, UFC, is in Manchester for its eighth PPV of this year. Featuring two title fights in the main card, UFC 304 is certainly a money spinner with Leon Edwards defending his welterweight title against Belal Muhammad in the main event for a million-dollar life-changing payday.
According to Marca, ‘Rocky’ has a reported base salary of $500,000 – which would have doubled if he had won Saturday’s PPV bonanza owing to Edwards’ share of the pay-per-view.
Edwards will earn possibly up to 7 figures at UFC 304 along with a base salary of $500,000 and a share of pay-per-view buys. As for the challenger, ‘Remember The Name’ Muhammad, he is expected to bag his base salary of $80,000 which will increase to a new high since he snatched the belt from the Brit.
The PPV cut will also likely guarantee Muhammad a massive paycheck. But given that his base salary is not anywhere close to Edwards, the champion will have to be content with a far lower sum, even after winning the title. But Belal won’t mind. Not today, not with everything he had put at stake.
Meanwhile, UFC interim heavyweight champion, Tom Aspinall showed his worth making quick work of former foe, Curtis Blaydes earning a swift KO along with a $500,000 plus pay-per-view share.
Tick Tock, Tick Tock, the clock ticks for Jon ‘Bones’ Jones
Make no mistake about it, UFC’s Manchester event was an eventful outing, Though the main event succumbed to the judges’ decision like most anticipated, Aspinall managed to emulate his KO performance against Sergei Pavlovich, leaving ‘The Razor’ Blaydes all dazed and confused after a crisp counter put the American on thin ice.
TOM ASPINALL KNOCKS OUT CURTIS BLAYDES INSIDE ONE #UFC304 pic.twitter.com/9X9CBXPa0k
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) July 28, 2024
All it took for the Briton was just 1 minute. Despite the unfortunate loss against Curtis back in 2022, losing via a doctor stoppage TKO in under 15 seconds, Aspinall redeemed himself with a nasty KO finish and retained his interim title successfully. This win upped the stocks for Aspinall who courtesy of his champion status ensures a base salary of $500,000 in addition to the pay-per-view shares.
Following the win, the interim champion issued the most polite call out in UFC history but it was one that will surely tick the undisputed champion off ahead of his November fight with Stipe Miocic.
Jones has been accused of ducking Aspinall for quite some time now but after what the Brit did today, even Dana White couldn’t deny him a chance to have a go at Jones. So if Jones doesn’t retire after the Miocic fight, he will find himself standing smack dab in the middle of a violent hailstorm.
