Conor McGregor is back – for real this time.
The Irish superstar and former two-division champion will finally make his return at 170 pounds against Michael Chandler in the five-round main event of UFC 303 on June 29th at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. . This event concludes International Fight Week 2024. .
The UFC announced the matchup during Saturday night's UFC 300 post-fight press conference.
It's been a long time coming for McGregor, whose latest bout, a serious injury to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264, ended with a broken leg.McGregor was sidelined due to injury but planned to return last year after signing with his coach. ultimate fighter 31 Opposite Chandler.
Coaching stints on the reality show have come and gone, but McGregor has yet to return. The main reason for that was because he had not re-enrolled in the UFC's anti-doping program. McGregor finally took another drug test in October of this year, and after six months of required testing, he was fit to fight as of March.
Rumors have been flying around for weeks that McGregor would face Chandler at UFC 300, but he had a prior commitment to promote the new fight. road house It was remade by Amazon and became his first leading role in a feature film. That promotion's schedule would have made it nearly impossible for him to fight at UFC 300.
As for Chandler, the former Bellator lightweight champion has been out of action for over a year awaiting the McGregor fight. Most recently, he competed in November 2022 and suffered a submission loss to Dustin Poirier, dropping his UFC record to 2 wins and 3 losses.
Chandler hopes to get back on track after picking up the biggest draw in UFC history when he faces McGregor in June. More matches will be announced for the June pay-per-view in the coming weeks.
