Conor McGregor withdraws from UFC main event fight due to injury

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

What a disappointing day for the loyal fans of Conor McGregor.

In a shocking announcement made by UFC president Dana White, McGregor will no longer be fighting in the upcoming UFC 303 main event against Michael Chandler after the charismatic Irish superstar sustained an undisclosed injury confirmed on June 14, 2024.

With the surprising turn of events, the UFC management confirmed that a light heavyweight championship title rematch between Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka will be replacing the main bout of UFC 303.

Several weeks ago, rumors already spread that the McGregor-Chandler fight would no longer push through after their press conference got canceled without any notice.

However, Chandler revived the hopes of the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) community after shrugging off the rumors during an interview in The Pivot podcast.

“The fight’s happening. Where we are right now, there’s a lot of speculation, but the fight is on. 29 June, it’s happening,” said Chandler.

The UFC also showed some light that the fight is still a go after they re-uploaded the past highlighted fights of both Chandler and McGregor on their official YouTube account.

Aside from their past fight videos, the UFC social media team also released the official video teaser of the Chandler-McGregor showdown.

Now that White officially confirmed that the blockbuster fight will not happen, the UFC is currently having issues with their ticket sales as everyone expected that McGregor will be making his highly-anticipated comeback in the octagon.

McGregor has been out in the UFC since July 10, 2021, after suffering a devastating leg injury in his rematch against Dustin Poirier.

Before exiting the MMA organization, McGregor had been in a slump and ended his last UFC ride with back-to-back losses at the hands of Poirier.