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Paddy Pimblett has his sights set on a place lightweight rankings but American Bobby Green standing in his way.

Green has won three of his last four fights and is ranked number 15 in division.

The 37-year-old made his pro debut in 2008 and is competing in his 50th MMA fight this morning, winning 32, losing 15 with one draw and one no-contest.

Pimblett is set to make his 25th walk to the cage and is seeking his 22nd victory.

He defeated future UFC Hall of Famer Tony Ferguson by unanimous decision in his last bout, can he beat another veteran in Manchester?

Not had your fix of Liverpool duo Molly McCann and Paddy Pimblett tonight?

The pair rarely shy away from the camera and they've been given their very own TV show!

If you haven't already seen 'Paddy & Molly: Show No Mersey', then click here and you can catch up on all eight episodes.

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Wales were represented by Oban Elliott to close out the early prelims - he claimed a unanimous decision win against Preston Parsons.

Speaking after the victory, Elliott, who made it seven wins in a row, said: "This was way better than I thought it was going to be. I didn’t think I was going to get that level of cheering.

"I wanted to walk back and do it again.

"It was amazing, Bruce Buffer calling my name and everyone going nuts in the rafters.

"If you’ve got a dream make sure you go and do it because if it pays off, the feeling I have now, I cannot put it into the words it was unbelievable.

"I love it in there, I become 'The Gangster' in there."

Paul Battison
BBC Sport at the Co-op Live, Manchester

Christian Leroy Duncan and Gregory Rodrigues slugged it out but even that struggled to lift this crowd - there were oohs and ahhs but not much energy.

Feels like we're in a bit of a 04:30 BST lull.

Paddy Pimblett is up next though, I wonder if he can provide a spark?

Britain's Muhammad Mokaev extended his unbeaten record earlier tonight - he now has 13 wins and one no-contest on his CV - after a unanimous decision victory over Manel Kape.

It has been pretty heated between the pair all week and they were involved in an altercation at the fighter hotel a couple of days ago.

They could barely wait to get their hands on each other when they stepped into the octagon...

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Liverpool's Paddy Pimblett heads to the octagon tonight with a new UFC deal in his back pocket.

The lightweight, who has won all five of his fights with the promotion since making his debut in 2021, has become one of the stars of the UFC partly due to his performances and partly due to his ability to sell a fight.

Pimblett's manager Graham Boylan made the announced the new deal on X, saying his fighter was "very happy to see his value has been acknowledged and handsomely rewarded".

The length of the deal has not been specified, but Pimblett did previously say his bout at UFC 304 on was the final fight on his current deal.

"New contract signed," Pimblett said on the UFC's Embedded YouTube series., external

"For all them saying that I'm going anywhere, I'm not going nowhere."

It's Olympic season, so we asked some of the UFC's best which of their colleagues could win an Olympic medal.

Leon Edwards in the 100m? Daniel Cormier in the shot put?

After watching Arnold Allen pick up a win it's now over to Gloucester's Christian Leroy Duncan to keep up the positivity for the Brits.

Duncan has a record of 10 wins and one loss and is up against Brazil's Gregory Rodrigues.

And he's got the brother of Leon Edwards, Fabian, who is in contention to fight for the Bellator middleweight title later this year.

Gareth Bailey
BBC Sport at the Co-op Live, Manchester

Two submission wins, one knockout, seven wins on the judges' scorecards... it's been a while since a fight hasn't gone the distance, six fights in fact.

You have to feel that at 04:00 BST this crowd may need another knockout to spark the energy back into the room.

Manvir Rai
BBC Sport at the Co-op Live, Manchester

UFC Hall of Famers Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping, who are part of UFC's television broadcast, both sprinted to the backstage during a break - lots of fans were screaming for a selfie but they weren't hanging about.

Shortly after, former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski walked out to take his seat and the fans made some serious noise for the Australian.

Paul Battison
BBC Sport at the Co-op Live, Manchester

I thought Belal Muhammad was being shown on the big screen just then as a number of boos rang out through the arena, but it was actually former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney.

Or were they chanting Rooooooney? Might have to ask Novak Djokovic that one...

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Michael Bisping has long been regarded as the UK's greatest export when it comes to mixed martial arts.

OK the former UFC middleweight champion may have been born in Cyprus but his thick Lancashire accent tells us all we need to know.

The manner in which Bisping won that title - stepping in on just a couple of weeks notice to beat Luke Rockhold - in 2016 earned him legendary status and further enhanced his reputation when defending against Dan Henderson.

Bisping's title reign came to an end with his next trip to the octagon, losing against Georges St-Pierre - widely regarded as one of the best to ever compete in the sport - but his place in British mixed martial arts folklore was already secured.

The UK had to wait until 2022 for a second UK UFC champion when Leon Edwards stunned Kamaru Usman with a head kick knockout in the final minute of round five.

Edwards has since made two defences and, this morning, becomes the first UK fighter to make three defences of a UFC title.

Is it time to finally crown a new GOAT on the UK scene?

Get in touch using #bbcmma on X, via WhatsApp on 03301231826 or text 81111 (UK only, standard message rates apply).

Arnold Allen gets back in the win column, beating Giga Chikadze by unanimous decision, to bounce back from successive losses.

That's huge for the Ipswich fighter who was on the verge of a featherweight title shot prior to losing to Max Holloway in April 2023.

Speaking to Daniel Cormier on the TNT broadcast after the victory, Allen said: "Giga is dangerous but I thought he'd slow down.

"We planned to wrestle but I let the team down."

Allen continued talking about his fight until his father, Pacer, reminded him he had an important shout out to make...

"Happy birthday nan!" Allen says.

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While the main card has only just gotten under way, already, there's been plenty of action inside the Co-op Live.

Here's a full list of the bouts that have already taken place.

Prelims:

• Nathaniel Wood def. Daniel Pineda via unanimous decision - featherweight
• Bruna Brasil def. Molly McCann via unanimous decision - strawweight
• Jake Hadley def. Caolan Loughran via unanimous decision - catchweight
• Muhammad Mokaev def. Manel Kape via unanimous decision - flyweight

Early prelims:

• Oban Elliott def. Preston Parson via unanimous decision - welterweight
• Modestas Bukauskas def. Marcin Prachnio via arm-triangle submission - light heavyweight
• Sam Patterson def. Kiefer Crosbie via arm-triangle submission - welterweight
• Mick Parkin def. Lukasz Brzeski via knockout (punches) - heavyweight
• Shauna Bannon def. Alice Ardelean via split decision - strawweight

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You might be asking why tonight's Manchester card is taking place at this time of the morning... I've certainly been asking that since president Dana White burst on to my X feed to announce that the UFC was heading to Manchester.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, we've had four UFC events in London - one of those (UFC 286) was a pay-per-view - and each of them have taken place at a very reasonable time for the UK audience.

That's not the case tonight, though, with the UFC opting to cater for the United States audience which is five to eight hours behind the UK for the vast majority of Americans.

So welterweight champion Leon Edwards, who resides in Birmingham, will walk to the cage at around 05:00 BST - when he'd usually be nicely tucked up in bed - to face Belal Muhammad.

Edwards closes out the card against Belal Muhammad. The 32-year-old works closely with dietician Jordan Sullivan, who was previously part of former UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovksi's team.

In 2020, Volkanovski was woken in the middle of the night before his title defence against Max Holloway by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) to provide a urine sample.

Volkanovski won the bout by split decision but looked below his usual level.

"Volk prepared perfectly but you saw the effects of Usada waking him up in the middle of the night in the fight with Holloway," Sullivan told BBC Sport.

"So when Leon got the call that he'd be fighting at 5am, I said 'we can’t let anything like that happen again'."

Read more here.

Round one in the bag for the first fight on this morning's main card and that opening five minutes ended with featherweights Arnold Allen and Giga Chikadze exchanging head kicks.

In his 22 fights prior to tonight, he has 19 wins and 3 losses, an impressive career record.

Image source, Getty Images

Gareth Bailey
BBC Sport at the Co-Op Live Arena, Manchester

Even Bruce Buffer is struggling not to dance along to this one!

'We Will Rock You' has everyone going wild in here for Arnold Allen.

If you thought everyone was tired inside the Co-op Live... well they're not any more.

Just like that night when Michael Bisping defended his middleweight title at Manchester Arena in 2016, this card is also playing out on UK soil at a time that is catering for the American audience.

The main card is just getting under way with Ipswich's Arnold Allen walking to the cage to face Georgia's Giga Chikadze.

Allen has gone for a mullet! That's a new one.

Also great song choice with Queen's 'We Will Rock You' to get the crowd going.

We've still got a way to go until interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall faces Curtis Blaydes at around 05:00 BST and welterweight champion Leon Edwards meets Belal Muhammad at around 05:30.

It's going to be a late one...

Seven years and nine months ago Michael Bisping emerged from the bowels of the Manchester Arena to defend his UFC middleweight title.

It was around 04:46 BST local time and Manchester's hometown hero would be in for a gruelling encounter against Dan Henderson.

Bisping, however, retained his belt on a memorable night for British MMA.

This morning, at the Co-op Live in Manchester, Leon 'Rocky' Edwards follows in the footsteps of the British great as he defends his welterweight title against Belal Muhammad.

On October 8, 2016, only two of 11 fights went the distance. A then-25-year-old Edwards produced a last-round submission win against Albert Tumenov.

With an even bigger event this weekend, BBC Sport looks back at the last time the UFC staged a title fight in Manchester.

You can see a selection below but click here to see the full reel.

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