Aspinall: UFC 304's late start time 'absolutely terrible' for UK fans

UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall feels for the fans who will be in attendance at UFC 304 well into the middle of the night in Manchester, England.

Aspinall is expected to return to action against a yet-to-be-determined opponent at the July 27 pay-per-view event, scheduled to start at 11 p.m. local time and end around 5 or 6 a.m. the next day. The Salford, England, native said competing at an unusual time won't be an issue for him, but he sympathizes with the thousands of people paying for seats at the new Co-op Live arena.

"As a fighter, in all honestly, it doesn't make that much difference," Aspinall said in a video posted to his YouTube channel Monday. "Probably for a couple of weeks before, I'll have to wake up and train at that time, or I'll stay up or whatever. I've flown across the world multiple times and fought in different time zones, so it's not as bad as that.

"As a fan who wants to watch it live, I think it is absolutely terrible. It's just not fair on the fans, it's not fair on the U.K. fans."

The UFC's last event in Manchester, UFC 204 in October 2016, also took place overnight. However, the promotion adjusted the time for the most recent U.K. pay-per-view - last year's UFC 286 in London - to an afternoon time slot in North America.

"Obviously, predominantly (the UFC has) an American audience," Aspinall said. "So I understand that they want to sell to them. But why can't they sell to them in the afternoon, which is our evening time? Why can't the Americans watch it in the afternoon, and the U.K. fans, the Manchester fans, the European fans can all fly to the event, sell out this new arena?

"It's gonna sell out regardless - we're very, very, very lucky to have a pay-per-view event in Manchester. Very lucky. But U.K. MMA - let's put it on U.K. time."

Aspinall has said he will fight at UFC 304, though the promotion has yet to confirm his involvement. The 31-year-old's two most likely opponents are Ciryl Gane and Curtis Blaydes in what would be his first defense of the interim heavyweight belt since capturing it against Sergei Pavlovich last November.