Former two-division champion Conor McGregor is out from the UFC 303 main event. The 35-year-old took to his Instagram account to share the news of his injury. It now means that the biggest star of the UFC will have to wait to return to the Octagon for more time. His injury has drawn considerable attention from the MMA community and many experts. However, former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen feels a bit different about the whole. While speaking to Daniel Cormier, ‘Uncle Sonnen’ shared that McGregor has been injured for more than a year.

On June 3, Conor McGregor canceled his press conference in Dublin, which gave rise to a lot of speculations. Most of the fans predicted that he was facing some kind of injury. However, Sonnen feels the former champ has been injured since the last year. While speaking to ‘DC’ on the ‘Good Guy/ Bad Guy’ podcast, the 47-year-old pointed out how desperate he was to witness the clash, but was now disappointed. However, he was quick to comment on the situation and made it clear that something was not right.

Sonnen said, “I mean, in all fairness, it’s a little bit of a tricky situation. I am disappointed. ” The whole rivalry between McGregor and Michael Chandler started way back last year. Both fighters were part of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 31 and were supposed to take on each other last June. However, the fight never happened, which forced Sonnen to believe that the injury was not a recent one.

“Now I don’t want to give Conor a hard time. And I am for the idea that health comes first. I would just share for you. He’s known about this for well over a year. And as a matter of fact, they were supposed to fight in June of last year,” revealed the UFC insider. Although details of the injury are not known yet, the fans are already disappointed. They have been waiting for more than three years to witness their favorite in the octagon again.

Not only fans, but Michael Chandler has also been waiting patiently for his fight. At 38, ‘Iron’ has wasted quite a lot of time in the buildup to the clash. He has even faced a lot of criticism from his fellow fighters for waiting this long. However, it now seems that ‘Iron’ is slowly losing his patience with the Dubliner.

Michael Chandler shares his honest opinion after the latest UFC 303 withdrawal

Michael Chandler was last seen inside the Octagon at UFC 281 in November 2022, against Dustin Poirier. Since then, the 38-year-old has been trying to get into a fight with Conor McGregor. However, it somehow seems that the fight is just not meant to happen. A few weeks down the line, most MMA experts were throwing in their predictions for the upcoming UFC 303 clash. But the scenario is completely changed as the Dubliner pulled out during the last moment.

Chandler is a bit disappointed with the entire incident and, on his Instagram, shared his opinion about the whole. ‘Iron’ was entering the final stages of his training camp when he received the news. The 38-year-old said, “Got the rug pulled out from underneath me at the last possible moment — I just had got done with my last sparring session Thursday morning,”. 

Chandler then went on to comment on the situation by adding, “So, what do I do now?” Currently, there is no update about how much time McGregor will take to recover. Although Conor McGregor is confident in making a comeback, there are still a lot of question marks surrounding his return. In such a testing time, a lot depends on the next step taken by Chandler.

Should the 38-year-old wait to take on his longtime rival? Or should he move on and find a new opponent altogether? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.