Conor McGregor’s return postponed due to injury, new main event set for UFC 303
Conor McGregor will not be fighting at UFC 303 after all.
UFC head Dana White revealed the news on X Thursday night that McGregor was injured and immediately moved on to promoting the new main event: reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira defending against former champion Jiri Prochazka with a co-main event of Brian Ortega vs. Diego Lopes.
The show is set for Saturday, June 29th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas as part of International fight Week. Due to the high ticket prices for McGregor’s return, the show already had a company record-breaking $20 million gate in mid-May. Because of the change, they will have to offer fans the ability to get a refund if they so choose due to a policy in Nevada.
Ariel Helwani went deeper into the reasons for McGregor’s fight vs. Michael Chandler to be postponed to later this year with a target of either August or September, reporting that McGregor got hurt a day or so before the UFC’s press conference in Dublin, Ireland, that was canceled. The specific injury has not been reported. He stated that all parties tried to save the fight, but it was pulled internally within the last 48 hours.
All sides were fairly quiet as talk of the fight being off circulated after that press conference cancellation. Helwani said that the new main event was a top choice but had to overcome some hurdles: mainly that the champion is in Australia doing seminars and is recovering from some broken toes.
It was to be McGregor’s first UFC fight since his loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021 while Chandler (the former Bellator lightweight champion) has been on the shelf since November 2022’s UFC 281 when he also lost to Poirier.