The suspense around the fate of Conor McGregor‘s UFC 303 comeback bout against Michael Chandler remains. But things are not looking good. The Irishman is officially scheduled to take on his rival ‘TUF 31’ coach in the main event of the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas card on June 29.

However, the abrupt cancellation of the June 3 press conference for the event in ‘Mac’s hometown of Dublin had started to ring alarm bells for the fight. And according to keen-eyed MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, the status of the fight is still unclear, leaning towards the fight being off.

“It’s not 100% off but I’d be extremely surprised at this point if it remains and they are actively negotiating with multiple camps to find a replacement. It’s all up in the air still but they are proceeding at this time like they need a replacement.” Helwani tweeted in reply to a fan who asked about the fight’s status.

‘The MMA Hour’ show host revealed that while nothing could be said for certain, the UFC was looking for a replacement bout and seriously reaching out to various fighters to secure one. Helwani also gave his personal assessment of the status of the UFC 303 headliner. The journalist admitted that he would be ‘surprised’ if the fight actually happened, pointing to the UFC seeking replacements as a clear sign it was in trouble.

Helwani claims UFC hasn’t made Conor McGregor pull out official for lack of replacement

Amid this uncertainty around his next fight, the Irishman dropped what many are saying is the clearest hint that he would be pulling out from his UFC 303 clash against Michael Chandler. The former two-division champion in a now-deleted tweet, posted an old of him talking about how training with a resistance band can lead to injury. “I think the more resistance you train with, the less movement and the more injury. The less resistance you train with, the more movement and the less injury,” McGregor says in the video.

Many saw McGregor dropping the big I-word in the video as a clear indication that the Irishman was pulling out due to injury. And according to Helwani, the only reason he has not made this publicly known at the moment is because it has not found a replacement yet.

“UFC is not intentionally trying to drag out this 303 saga.

They are burning the midnight oil trying to find a replacement solution. The issue is there aren’t a ton of options available right now. If there was they would have announced it all already and moved on,” Helwani tweeted.

Helwani’s tweets, along with the noticeably ominous mood of  UFC insiders make it seem like MMA fans will have to wait even more to watch the sports biggest ever star back in action. And it is just a matter of time before the UFC tells the fans this, according to Helwani.

What are your thoughts on Helwani’s claims? Let us know in the comments.