Conor McGregor's highly anticipated return to the Octagon will not happen at UFC 303 on June 29, the organization announced Thursday night, just hours after revealing that its most popular fighter is recovering from an injury.
His opponent, Michael Chandler, will also not be appearing on the card.
“Conor McGregor will miss UFC 303 due to injury,” UFC president Dana White said on X. “It's been a crazy week for UFC.”
UFC 303 International Fight Week June 29th pic.twitter.com/P47PSsKcg0
— Dana White (@danawhite) June 14, 2024
According to Ariel Helwani of The MMA Hour, talks about rescheduling the fight are taking place in August or September, Helwani also reported that McGregor's injury occurred earlier this month, shortly before UFC canceled his pre-fight press conference in Dublin at the last minute.
No official details have been released regarding McGregor's injury or recovery timeline.
In place of the original main event, light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira will face Jiri Prochazka, White said. The co-main event at UFC 303 has also been changed from Jamal Hill vs. Carlos Ulberg to newly announced featherweight contenders Brian Ortega vs. Diego Lopez.
Former light heavyweight champion Hill was originally scheduled to face Khalil Rowntree Jr. at UFC 303, but Rowntree was suspended for taking a banned substance. Hill is fresh off a loss to Pereira at UFC 300, but injured his knee while training for UFC 303. Ulberg will face veteran Anthony Smith.
Pereira's rapid rise in mixed martial arts has made him one of UFC's most exciting and popular fighters. After a successful kickboxing career, he moved up to middleweight and won the title from longtime rival Israel Adesanya, then moved to light heavyweight, eventually becoming one of just nine fighters in UFC history to win gold medals in multiple weight classes.
Prochazka is a former light heavyweight champion who vacated the belt due to injury in 2022 and lost his first fight back to Pereira. He earned another chance at gold with a win over Aleksandar Rakic in April.
Thursday's announcement confirmed that UFC 303 will not be canceled and that the event will feature the promotion's annual International Fight Week and Hall of Fame induction, which is typically one of UFC's most highly-anticipated events of the year and always features a big-name fighter in the card's main event.
The cancellation of the original main event came after weeks of speculation that the bout might be scrapped and after years of hopes of a McGregor return. The former two-weight champion has not competed since breaking his leg in the first round of his 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier.
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The loss marked McGregor's second straight defeat against Poirier, with the 35-year-old Irishman having just one win since 2016.
Chandler has been taking his time to prepare for what will undoubtedly be the biggest payday of his career against McGregor, having not fought since late 2022. The 38-year-old former Bellator champion also suffered a loss to Poirier.
Earlier this month, UFC, along with both McGregor and Chandler's camps, did not respond to requests for comment on the status of the UFC 303 main event. This came days after a press conference in Dublin was canceled and Chandler posted on social media that he was leaving his training camp in South Florida and returning home.
In the days that followed, McGregor posted photos of himself in what appeared to be a doctor's office, and then a series of videos of him sparring the next day.
On Thursday morning, McGregor posted, then later deleted, a post about training while injured.
Ahead of the UFC 3030 announcement, White also revealed changes to the card for UFC Fight Night in Saudi Arabia on June 22. The main event was originally scheduled to feature Khamzat Chimaev facing former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, but White said Chimaev had recently fallen ill and was removed from the card. White said Whittaker will now face Ikram Aliskerov.
Chimaev is 13-0 and considered a future title challenger, but has had several fights canceled in recent years due to illness. On Thursday, Chimaev's training partner posted a photo of him lying in what appeared to be a hospital bed.
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