Tom Aspinall says UFC 304 start time is ‘awful’ and should be changed as Brit provides update on next opponent
TOM ASPINALL completely understands UK fans’ frustrations with the start time for UFC 304.
Mixed martial arts‘ premier promotion returns to the United Kingdom on July 27 for what’s expected to be a blockbuster showcase of Britain’s finest.
But the UFC‘s second pay-per-view visit in as many years – which takes place in Manchester – has come at a cost as the start time has been pushed back to 11pm.
UFC 304‘s main card will get underway at a staggering 3AM, with the main event set to take place at around 5:30am.
The decision has been made to accommodate the UFC’s North American market, which is responsible for the majority of their pay-per-view buys.
But Aspinall, like many others, believes the Brits parting with their hard-earned cash to attend the card shouldn’t be forced to stay up until the early hours of the morning to watch their heroes in action.
The 31-year-old told SunSport: “For the American fans, cool, good.
“For the UK fans, it’s absolutely awful. I don’t agree with it at all and I think it should be changed.”
Fans in attendance for the UFC’s last visit to Manchester in 2016 were in the arena until nearly 6 am watching Michael Bisping defend the middleweight title against Dan Henderson.
Aspinall was one of the paying punters that night, so his sympathy for the fans who will be forced to stay up super late to watch him in action comes from a place of experience.
The interim UFC heavyweight champion added: “It’s bad, it’s bad for everybody. I don’t like it at all for the fans.
“That aside, me as an athlete, obviously to be the best in the world you have to be selfish.
BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS
“For me, it doesn’t really matter. But for everybody coming and watching me, it’s terrible. It’s awful and I think it should be changed for the UK time.”
Fighting in a different time zone won’t be an issue for Aspinall, who did so numerous times in the UFC’s Covid bubbles in Abu Dhabi and Las Vegas during the height of the pandemic.
He said: “For me as a fighter, it doesn’t make a difference. It doesn’t make a difference [at all].
“Fight week, I’ll probably do a couple of light night slash early morning sessions probably for a week before.
“You’ve got to remember, I’ve flown across the world multiple times on short notice.
“When I was [fighting] in Covid, for example, I took five flights to Vegas – arrived on the Thursday and fought on the Saturday – on different time zones.
“Fighting at 5am in the UK is easy for me.”
At this moment in time, Aspinall only knows the rough timings for he’ll be fighting – with an opponent for his homecoming still being worked on.
The Atherton assassin said: “We’ll see what the UFC are looking to do. I actually don’t know myself at this point.
“I know that they’re working on someone, maybe a couple of people.
“But literally, mate, I’d love to sit here with you, look you in the eyes and be like, ‘This is who I’m fighting’ all systems go.
“Right now, I’m just training but I’m training to get myself in the best shape of my life. I’m not training for anyone specific.”
