UFC 304 Prediction and Betting Tips: Best bets for Manchester numbered card

In the first sporting event held at Manchester's new Co-Op Live Arena, British champions Leon Edwards and Tom Aspinall headline the organisation's eagerly-anticipated return to England.

Welterweight gold goes on the line when 170lbs king Leon Edwards risks it all in his rematch with Belal Muhammad, while interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall seeks revenge over Curtis Blaydes following the freak injury he suffered inside 15 seconds last time the two met in this city.

Elsewhere on the card, the divisive Paddy Pimblett faces his toughest challenge yet against No.15 ranked lightweight Bobby Green, featherweight prospect Arnold Allen looks to bounce back from January's defeat in an awkward matchup with Giga Chikadze and Scouser Molly McCann continues her new path into the strawweight division against Bruna Brasil.

Paddy Pimblett's advantages lay in the wrestling department, with his height and skill set lending itself to finding chokes and limb attacks from any position.

That means the longer this fight remains on the feet, the more success Bobby Green will find himself having against the relatively unproven 'Baddy', whose striking defence leaves a lot to be desired.

Both have passed the cardio test when asked, although Green is able to pace himself more efficiently over three rounds than his English counterpart.

'King' will be able to outlast his opponent and with a late knockout or a decision win both perfectly reasonable possibilities for the Californian, we'll accept the insurance of taking him head-on to win the fight.

In the co-main, Aspinall's speed advantage makes him a danger to any current heavyweight. He's the next generation of fighter for his division, whose evasive movement gives him the feet of a middleweight, while still packing the ridiculous power of a 120kg man.

We can assume Curtis Blaydes will stick to his strengths as one of the best heavyweight wrestlers in the UFC right now, but there's still a degree of uncertainty as to how accomplished Aspinall is in this department given the roster's inability to test him on the mat so far.

The real difference is Tom's innate ability to find his target from unique angles in order to land clean shots. That's exactly how he finished both Marcin Tybura and Sergei Pavlovich in his last two fights, so although we anticipate him having to be his most patient in the organisation to date, we're confident Aspinall can find the knockout in rounds 3 or 4.

Belal has made some substantial improvements to his striking game, no less the relatively new switch stances that could be a good answer for Edwards' own tricky transitions from orthodox to southpaw and vice versa.

As proven in his third meeting with Kamaru Usman last year, the champ's takedown defence is not to be questioned. He'll likely have to maintain that level of consistency in this area when facing Muhammad, but it's no challenge that he hasn't previously overcome.

Both have credentials as five-round fighters and with six of their last eight combined fights being decided by the judges, we foresee a similar outcome here.

The keys to victory for the challenger are to weaponise his cardio and slow down Leon's striking with interchangeable wrestling. But 'Rocky' is able to execute his game plan incredibly well, which will be to keep Belal at range, dictate the pace of this fight and to utilise his kicking as much as possible.