Conor McGregor’s return to the Octagon will have to wait.
The UFC 303 main event between McGregor and Michael Chandler is off, with McGregor dealing with an injury, UFC president Dana White announced Thursday. White did not reveal what injury is sidelining McGregor.
“Conor McGregor is out of (UFC) 303 against (Michael) Chandler due to injury,” White said in a card update shared on X. White revealed that the new main event will be Alex Pereira x Jiri Prochazka.
Speculation that the McGregor-Chandler fight would be canceled had been growing recently. On June 3, UFC postponed their press conference between the two in McGregor’s hometown of Dublin, Ireland. The UFC did not set a make-up date or specify the reason for canceling the press conference, but McGregor said it was “due to a series of obstacles beyond our control.”
The fight was supposed to be McGregor’s first in the UFC since UFC 264 in 2021, when he lost to Dustin Poirier after suffering a serious leg injury and the fight ended due to a doctor’s stoppage. McGregor rehabilitated his leg and did not return to the UFC until becoming a coach on “The Ultimate Fighter 31” in 2023. With Chandler as another coach, the two were expected to continue the tradition of both coaches fighting each other at the conclusion of the show. But the fight never happened.
Chandler hasn’t fought since UFC 281, in 2022, when he lost to Poirier.
Will the McGregor-Chandler fight still happen? Will McGregor fight in the UFC again? The 35-year-old has flirted with retirement since his last fight and has other ventures, such as business and now acting. If he doesn’t return to the Octagon, he will finish his career at 22-6-0, with 19 knockout wins, and is a former UFC featherweight champion and UFC lightweight champion.
Contributing: Cydney Henderson, Jace Evans
This article originally appeared in USA TODAY: Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler fight on UFC 303 card
