Conor McGregor may not be fighting on the UFC 304 card, but Curtis Blaydes thinks the timings for the event would have been changed for ‘The Notorious’. The event set to take place on July 27 has drawn a lot of attention due to the start time of 11 PM (BST), which means that the main card would start at around 3 AM (BST). This has led to a lot of debate about the timing with many prominent voices in the sport calling for a change.

In fact, Tom Aspinall, the other half of the co-main event against Blaydes, revealed that he had asked the UFC to shift the timing which, “Didn’t go down well… They were just like, ‘Nope.’ There weren’t even any negotiations.” According to a recent statement by ‘Razor’, the awkward time has also made him feel ‘undervalued’ by the promotion and CEO Dana White!

Curtis Blaydes claims Conor McGregor wouldn’t have faced the same struggles with UFC 304  

UFC 304 event will be the promotion’s return to the UK since UFC 286 in March last year. As such, the UK fandom and many fighters on the card were left in a tough place due to the bizarre starting time for the event. In a statement at the UFC Denver press conference, the interim heavyweight title challenger revealed that the promotion would not have set up the time for the main card to fall during the early morning hours if a certain Irishman was involved.

Blaydes stated, “You wouldn’t have McGregor fight at 4 AM. Regardless of where it is in the world. That makes it feel a little less, but I don’t care. I’m getting the title fight purse money.” His dance partner for the fight, Tom Aspinall, did get shut down when he asked for a change in the timings. But, according to a report by Sherdog, the heavyweight has taken a page out of Leon Edwards’ book and brought in a sleep specialist to prepare for the event.

But why did the UFC and Dana White decide to host the event at that particular time? In a recent interview on the MMA hour,  Edwards had revealed, “I think they said the pay-per-view was already booked for Utah, right? And then they – so the slot was already booked in so when they changed it to Manchester, they couldn’t change also the time with the TV station…”

While Curtis Blaydes isn’t happy with the timing decisions by the promotion, according to Tom Aspinall, it shouldn’t matter what time the fight is, an elite MMA fighter should be able to handle whatever obstacles get thrown at them!

UFC fighters should be ready to go to war at any time according to Tom Aspinall

Tom Aspinall recently shared his thoughts on Curtis Blaydes’ claims about the UFC 304 start timing forcing him to “…be vampires for about a week” to prepare for his fight. ‘Razor’ has been vocal about the timings being a “slight” towards the fighters on the card during his recent appearance on ‘The MMA Hour’. But Aspinall seems to believe your performance inside the Octagon shouldn’t hinge on what time you step inside it.

During the Englishman’s time on ‘The MMA Hour’, he stated, “If you can fight really well at 12 o’clock, midnight, but you can’t fight really well at 4 am, you weren’t that good in the first place, in my opinion.” Aspinall also confessed that he’s fought in different time zones without a period of acclimatization as that’s what the job involves. But this time around, “Now I’ve had a full training camp at home, I’m ready to fight.”

In conclusion, Aspinall’s view that elite fighters should excel regardless of the circumstances reflects a pragmatic approach to the sport’s demands. But what are your thoughts on the UFC 304 start time? Do you think it will affect the fighter’s performance? Let us know in the comments below!