Conor McGregor‘s long-awaited return to the UFC has officially been canceled, with the Irishman pulling out of his upcoming fight against Michael Chandler through ‘injury’.
The news was revealed by UFC chief Dana White on Instagram late on Thursday night, as he posted a video to reveal the new schedule for this month’s UFC 303 card in Las Vegas.
Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka will now headline the event, facing off on Saturday June 29 – and the news will come to a huge blow to McGregor’s legions of fans who had planned a trip to Sin City in two weeks’ time.
No further information has been given on the nature of McGregor’s injury, but at the age of 35, there are now serious doubts over whether he will ever return to the Octagon.
In a video announcing the news, UFC chief White simply stated: ‘Alright guys, here I am again… Conor McGregor is out of 303 vs Michael Chandler with an injury,’ before going on to reveal the status of the new card.
Conor McGregor is officially out of UFC 303 with an ‘injury’, as revealed by Dana White
McGregor and Chandler will now not be meeting in their highly-anticipated bout in Vegas
Fans were quick to share their thoughts in the replies, with one writing: ‘Are you kidding?’, while another added: ‘We will NOT be watching.’
The status of McGregor’s first fight in four years was already unclear, after the Irishman recently pulled out of a press conference at short notice, and was seen partying on a wild night out in Dublin.
The news comes just hours after the UFC’s official Instagram account had teased positive news about the fight, sharing a poster with McGregor front and center.
In addition to the news of McGregor’s injury, White also told fans that another co-headliner – featuring Jamahal Hill and Carlos Ulberg – was also off, with the former suffering a ‘knee injury’.
Interestingly, more detail was given about the Hill injury than McGregor’s, which remains unspecified.
Earlier in the day, McGregor had teased his injury news online with a cryptic post on social media – which he then deleted.
McGregor had earlier shared an old video of himself talking about injuries on Instagram
He sparked fears about the fight when he was spotted partying at his Dublin bar last month
McGregor is a former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion. He is pictured here in 2016
McGregor, who has not fought since suffering a horrific leg break in his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier back in the summer of 2021, shared an old video of himself talking about injuries.
‘I think the more resistance you train with, the less movement and the more injury,’ he says in the clip.
‘But the less resistance you train with, the more movement and the less injury.’
The Notorious accompanied the post with a ‘pensive’ and ‘praying’ emoji, hinting that an injury could be getting in the way of the fight.
At the end of May, McGregor raised eyebrows when clips were shared of a wild night out at his Black Forge Inn pub, just six weeks out from his big fight night.
The former UFC champion could be seen dancing and kissing his wife Dee on the night out
McGregor has not fought since suffering a devastating injury against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264
In one video, McGregor can be seen dancing with a group of men and pointing at the camera with his tongue out.
During the footage, the fighter – who is engaged – shows off an expensive timepiece on his left wrist before the camera pans to him using his tattooed hand to try and open a woman’s dress and touch her chest.
Taken aback, the unidentified woman rebuffs the move by quickly grabbing her leopard print dress to avoid being exposed. She bats away his hand before the video then abruptly ends.
McGregor, a former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion, had previously hinted that he would be going on a self-imposed alcohol ban ahead of his now-canceled bout at UFC 303 on June 30.
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