Surprising Twist in Conor McGregor’s Injury Saga as Teammate Tells a Different Story Ahead of UFC 303

The suspense around the status of Conor McGregor‘s next fight continues. The Irishman, of course, is booked to face Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29, which will mark MMA’s biggest star’s return to the octagon after three long years. But the recent turn of events has worried many about the matchup being in jeopardy.

After the recent press conference cancellation disaster (along with other ill omens since then), attributed to McGregor having refusing to show up to it, there have been fears that the Irishman will be a no-show at UFC 303 and the bout will be canceled. Many theories were floated, with an injury being a prime candidate. And ‘Mac’s teammate, Brad Katona, has revealed all he knows about it in a recent interview.

Conor McGregor’s teammate talks UFC 303

Ahead of UFC 303, a press conference was scheduled in ‘Mac’s hometown of Dublin on June 3. The Irishman, of course, is at his best in them, and the UFC would have been hoping it would create some more hype and buzz for the T-Mobile Arena card. However, things took a wild turn as the promotion abruptly announced that the media day event had been called off, refusing to elaborate on its reasons.

The last-minute nature of the cancellation and the silence from all parties involved, including the Dana White-led promotion, had fans speculating that the fight was in jeopardy. While McGregor did tweet out an apology, he didn’t really address why the press conference was canceled. And the whole MMA world wants to know whether or not ‘Notorious’s upcoming comeback bout will go forward.

And that is why McGregor’s SBG Ireland stablemate and fellow UFC fighter Brad Katona was expected to provide some answers about the status of McGregor-Chandler. In a recent interview with Aaron Bronsteter, the two-time ‘TUF’ winner was asked point blank, if McGregor will fight on UFC 303. And Katona was just as clueless as the rest of us.

“I know as much as you guys, which is nothing. All I can say is well behind the scenes, the last time I saw him, he seemed completely healthy. Now I think that was, I got here Saturday, so it’s been a while, maybe something’s developed,” Katona said.

I wish I knew, I’m just as curious as you guys, I was checking the MMA subreddit, seeing if there was any news. But I don’t know anything. I think so [that McGregor will fight at UFC 303] the everything’s [going]. As far as I know, everything’s going forward, but again, I know probably as much if not less than you guys,” he added.

The Canadian revealed that while he trained at the same gym as ‘Mac’, he didn’t know much either. He did say that, as far as he knew, the bout was going ahead, but cautioned the interviewer once again that he knew just as much as the fans and the media. Also, Katona’s comments do make it seem like the Irishman has not suffered an injury. While Katona may not have shed any light on McGregor’s upcoming fight, there are other ill omens.

‘DC’ and Helwani give bad news to McGregor fans

Former champion, current commentator, and UFC insider Daniel Cormier rang the alarm bells on McGregor-Chandler. Speaking on his ESPN MMA show after the press conference fiasco, ‘DC’ revealed that all of the UFC officials he had contacted were ‘tight-lipped’ about the whole affair, leading him to fear the worst for the UFC 303 main event bout.

In addition, there was a report from the news outlet ‘MMA Uncensored’ which claimed that ESPN had removed the ads for UFC 303 from its website. Not to mention MMA journalist Ariel Helwani claimed in a recent tweet that the UFC was reaching out to other fighters as a possible replacement for McGregor at the top of UFC 303, or to replace McGregor-Chandler entirely.

If taken individually, these revelations may not be so worrying. However, taken together, there seems to be a pattern emerging that points to Conor McGregor’s comeback as being in very real danger of being called off. However, until the UFC, McGregor, or Chandler address the issue, nothing can be said for certain, and the bout is still on, at least officially.