Why Did Conor McGregor Pull Out of UFC 303? Injury Rumors and All We Know So Far About the Michael Chandler Fight

After much speculation and an emotional rollercoaster ride, Conor McGregor is out of his June 29 clash against Michael Chandler at UFC 303. The MMA world was sent into a frenzy with the cancellation of the June 3 pre-fight press conference in Dublin. This led to a wave of rumors and concern amongst the fandom about the possibility of the June 29 fight falling through, as well.

McGregor released a training update on social media subsequently, and Michael Chandler stated on an episode of the Pivot podcast, “The fight’s happening, where we are right now, there’s a lot of speculation but the fight is on. June 29. It’s happening”, to provide some relief for the fandom. But according to the latest updates, the fight is now off as ‘The Notorious’s fans will have to wait even longer for his highly anticipated return to the Octagon!

Why is UFC 303 main event between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler canceled?

According to a post shared on X by veteran MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, “Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler at UFC 303 on June 29 has been canceled, per Dana White. The new main event is Alex Pereira vs. Jiří Prochazka for the light heavyweight title. McGregor vs. Chandler will be re-booked later this year. The fight has been pushed because McGregor suffered an injury right before last week’s press conference in Dublin.”

Helwani also revealed that the UFC, McGregor and all other parties involved in the decision to cancel the fight attempted to “save” the card in any way possible but they were eventually forced to make a replacement bout for the event instead.

As of right now, there has been no indication from official sources as to what the injury might be, but former UFC fighter Josh Thomson had surprisingly already made this claim when the Dublin press conference was canceled.

In an episode of the ‘Weighing In’ podcast, Thomson stated, “A couple of sources that I have heard from, was that he is dealing with a little bit of injury you know Conor is and so that they may, he should be good to go for the fight time. But if he is dealing with the injury, they did not want him being visually seen at the press conference…”

As such, in light of the recent reports, it appears that the injury is severe enough to warrant the fight being canceled and the MMA fandom will hope that more clarity on the situation is provided by the UFC or McGregor’s camp soon.

However, this wasn’t the only setback the UFC has faced as the promotion’s debut in Saudi Arabia also faced a hurdle with Khamzat Chimaev undergoing a serious medical issue ahead of his clash against Robert Whittaker on June 22!

Khamzat Chimaev forces Dana White to scramble for a replacement as ‘Borz’ faces health issues

In an update shared on X, UFC boss Dana White revealed that “Khamzat Chimaev is out of the fight next weekend in Saudi Arabia. Violently, and I mean, violently ill. So, he’s going back home and hopefully, he gets well soon.”

There was also a statement released by Chimaev’s manager that indicated that ‘Borz’ had been battling the condition for a majority of the training camp but couldn’t recover in time to make the fight. The statement didn’t disclose the cause of the illness as it stated,” The condition has been kept within the team…”

Therefore, the UFC has replaced Chimaev with Ikram Aliskerov, and according to White’s post on X, “…this guy is 15-1, his only loss in a 16 fight pro career is to Khamzat Chimaev. So this dude is a legit contender in only his 3rd UFC fight…”

In conclusion, while the fans may be disappointed with two of the most highly anticipated bouts of the year getting canceled on short notice, the UFC and Dana White’s adeptness in navigating these hurdles have ensured that the events still give the fans their money’s worth!

What are your thoughts on the undisclosed injury suffered by Conor McGregor and the cancellation of his UFC 303 comeback? Let us know in the comments below!