UFC 303 was supposed to mark Conor McGregor’s return to the Octagon. But his long-awaited fight against Michael Chandler has been scuppered (for now) due to an injury McGregor suffered before the fight.
But give credit to the UFC, which acted quickly to replace the main event and save a pay-per-view card that suffered some other setbacks. And the new main event should be very exciting for fight fans: Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka face off again, with the light heavyweight title that Pereira won against former champion Prochazka last November on the line.
Stay with USA TODAY Sports for UFC 303 updates and highlights:
When is UFC 303?
The first preliminaries begin at 6pm ET on Saturday. Prelims are scheduled to begin at approximately 8pm ET, with the pay-per-view card beginning at approximately 10pm ET.
UFC 303 live stream
The UFC 303 prelims and prelims will air on ESPN and can be streamed via ESPN+. The pay-per-view card can be purchased via ESPN+.
Where is UFC 303?
The UFC returns to the 303’s usual venue – Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
UFC 303 fight card
Main card
-
Alex Pereira (champion) x Jiri Prochazka (light heavyweight)
-
Brian Ortega x Diego Lopes (lightweight)
-
Anthony Smith x Roman Dolidze (light heavyweight)
-
Mayra Bueno Silva x Macy Chiasson (women’s bantamweight)
-
Ian Machado Garry x Michael Page (welterweight)
Preliminary
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Joe Pyfer x Marc-Andre Barriault (middleweight)
-
Cub Swanson x Andre Fili (featherweight)
-
Charles Jourdain x Jean Silva (featherweight)
-
Payton Talbott x Yanis Ghemmouri (bantamweight)
Initial preliminaries
-
Michelle Waterson-Gomez x Gillian Robertson (women’s strawweight)
-
Andrei Arlovski x Martin Buday (heavyweight)
-
King Tsuruya x Carlos Hernández
-
Ricky Simon x Vinicius Oliveira
Why Conor McGregor’s fight isn’t on the UFC 303 card
Speculation that the McGregor-Chandler fight could be in trouble began when the UFC suddenly canceled a June 3 press conference that was to be held in Dublin. Ten days later, UFC president Dana White announced that the fight was off the 303 card due to an injury that sidelined McGregor. It has since been revealed that this injury was a broken toe.
McGregor last fought in July 2021, when he lost via medical stoppage after breaking his leg in a fight against Dustin Poirier.
Alex Pereira x Jiri Prochazka: history of the tape
|
Alexandre Pereira |
vs. |
Jiri Prochazka |
|
10-2-0 |
Record |
30-4-1 |
|
Brazil |
Country |
Czech |
|
6-4 |
Height |
6-3 |
|
220 |
Weight |
218 |
|
79 inches |
To reach |
80 inches |
|
44 inches |
Leg reach |
45 inches |
First fight between Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka
Alex Pereira defeated Jiri Prochazka via second-round TKO in their battle for the then-vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 295 in November.
History of the championship Alex Pereira
Before winning the light heavyweight title, Pereira – a kickboxing standout – was middleweight champion. He defeated Israel Adesanya by TKO at UFC 281 in December 2022 to win the belt, but Adesanya got revenge in their rematch at UFC 287 in April 2023 by knocking out Pereira to recapture the title.
Pereira moved up to light heavyweight after the defeat. He has had a successful title defense since winning the belt in November, knocking out Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 in April.
History of the Jiri Prochazka championship
Jiri Prochazka defeated Glover Teixeira via submission at UFC 275 in June 2022 to win the light heavyweight title. But he was never able to make a proper defense, leaving the title vacant due to injury. His next time in the Octagon was a loss to Pereira in November 2023.
This article originally appeared in USA TODAY: UFC 303 live results: Pereira vs Prochazka card, stream, how to watch
