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By Brett Okamoto, ESPN staff writer
Conor McGregor will no longer be fighting Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29 in Las Vegas, UFC CEO Dana White said on Thursday night.
McGregor (22-6) was scheduled to compete in the main event of the event but withdrew due to injury, marking the first time in his illustrious UFC career that he has withdrawn from a fight for any reason.
According to White, the new main event will be a light heavyweight title bout between Alex Pereira and Zy Prochazka.
White also announced two new bouts to be added to the card: Diego Lopez will face Brian Ortega in the co-main event, and Jamahal Hill was forced out of the co-main event due to injury, so former opponent Carlos Ulberg will take on Anthony Smith in a light heavyweight bout.
The sold-out event, which White said is on track to break a UFC record with more than $20 million in ticket sales, has not announced whether the non-title welterweight bout will be rescheduled.
McGregor, 35, was scheduled to return to action for the first time since breaking his leg in a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021. The former featherweight and lightweight champion has fought just four times since his blockbuster boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2017.
McGregor is 1-3 in those bouts, losing twice to Poirier and submitting Khabib Nurmagomedov in a 2018 title fight.
The cancellation of the June bout is an unfortunate chapter in the unfolding saga between McGregor and Chandler, with Chandler, a former Bellator MMA champion, being the first to seriously criticize McGregor in 2022. UFC announced that the two would face off as coaches on the reality show “The Ultimate Fighter” in early 2023, and it went ahead as scheduled in the spring of that year. However, for various reasons, the bout was not scheduled until early 2024.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), UFC's former drug testing partner, claimed that McGregor's situation led to the dissolution of the UFC program because UFC wanted to give him a six-month exemption from mandatory testing following his leg injury. UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell denied the allegations and demanded a public apology.
UFC has since partnered with several other agencies to run its drug programs.
The Irishman promised in a tweet that his return to the Octagon this year would be the start of “the biggest comeback in the history of sports.” UFC had scheduled a public press conference between McGregor and Chandler at Dublin's 3Arena on June 3 but cancelled the event just 12 hours before doors were due to open, sparking speculation over the fate of the bout.
Chandler, 38, hasn't fought since a back-and-forth loss to Poirier at UFC 281 in November 2022. He has only expressed slight interest in potential fights against Nate Diaz and BMF titleholder Max Holloway, who are both not currently under contract with UFC.
