Conor McGregor‘s long-awaited return to the octagon will no longer be happening at UFC 303. Just two weeks before he is supposed to face-off against Michael Chandler for his comeback bout, Dana White announced that the Irishman has suffered an injury, therefore needing to pull out as the main event.
The new main event will see Alex Pereira face off against Jiří Prochazka for the light heavyweight title while the co-main event will see former featherweight champion Brian Ortega vs. rising star Diego Lopes. The cancellation of McGregor vs. Chandler was not unprecedented as last week, a press conference was canceled, signalling that the fight could be in jeopardy as UFC began searching for a new main event. The fight was meant to be McGregor’s return to the octagon since his loss to Dustin Poirier in 2021 where he suffered a broken tibia.
At this time, it is uncertain how serious McGregor’s injury is. Since beating Eddie Alvarez in 2016 to secure the lightweight championship title and become the first UFC fighter to hold simultaneous titles in two weight classes, he had only fought in the octagon four times. It remains to be seen when this fight will be rescheduled.
UFC 303 International Fight Week June 29th pic.twitter.com/P47PSsKcg0
— danawhite (@danawhite) June 14, 2024
