24 Apr - 
UFC 304 announced for Manchester this summer
Michael Bisping headlined the last UFC Manchester card in 2016. | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

The UFC has officially announced its fifth trip to Manchester, England, and it’s taking place at the Co-op Live arena on July 27.

The promotion has yet to announce the main event for UFC 304 but interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall recently said he will be defending his belt on that pay-per-view show.

Birmingham-based Leon Edwards could also put his UFC welterweight title on the line on the card.

UFC 304 will be the first octagon visit to Manchester since Michael Bisping avenged a loss to Dan Henderson to defend his middleweight crown in the main event of UFC 204 in 2016 for a crowd of 16,000 fans.

The prelims will begin at 11 p.m. BST (6 p.m. ET in the U.S.), followed by the main card airing at 3 a.m. BST (10 p.m. ET in the U.S., the traditional start time for a UFC pay-per-view).

Three other UFC shows were held in Manchester previously. UFC 70 and UFC 105, although numbered cards, aired on Spike in the United States. UFC 70 featured Gabriel Gonzaga scoring a huge upset versus Mirko Cro Cop in the main event, while Randy Couture beat Brandon Vera in the UFC 105 headliner. Lyoto Machida stopped Mark Munoz on a Fight Night main event in 2013.