Conor McGregor’s highly awaited return to the octagon against Michael Chandler is reportedly off. The Irishman was to take on Chandler at UFC 303 during International Fight Week but Ariel Helwani has revealed that the UFC is actively looking for replacements for that fight.
This comes immediately after all the drama surrounding UFC Saudi Arabia with Khamzat Chimaev reportedly out of action for the card.
Ariel Helwani has had a busy 48 hours. There have been a lot of updates on the two main cards coming up, UFC 303 and UFC Saudi Arabia.
In a recent tweet on X, Helwani explained what the UFC is going to do regarding the Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler fight and how it will now allegedly take place in August or September this year.
“The consensus seems to be that they want to announce it all + the new date for McGregor x Chandler. August or September has been discussed…The plan, at least as of right now, seems to be to just move it to later this year.”
Now that the Saudi main event situation has been resolved, all the focus is on 303.
They have a new main event lined up (that doesn’t include McGregor and Chandler).
They have a new co-main lined up (that doesn’t include Hill and Ulberg).
The consensus seems to be that they…
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 13, 2024
This would mean that the UFC needs to find a new matchup for the UFC 303 main event. The event takes place during International Fight Week, which usually means a couple of title fights headlining it.
But since Conor McGregor is a bigger fight than any UFC title at the moment, the card had been sold on his back! Unfortunately that no longer seems to be an option.
Meanwhile, amidst all the confusion, Chandler still seems to be very confident that he will be fighting McGregor.
Michael Chandler still hopeful of Conor McGregor’s fight
Michael Chandler has been asking for the Conor McGregor fight for so long that it has kept him out of action since November 2022.
Despite the recent alleged cancellation of their UFC 303 main event, Chandler remains hopeful that he will fight the Irishman.
“#mmafactoftheday – Amount of times these fighters have pulled out of fights in their entire careers. @TheNotoriousMMA – 0 @MikeChandlerMMA – 0 #ufc303”
#mmafactoftheday – Amount of times these fighters have pulled out of fights in their entire careers.@TheNotoriousMMA – 0@MikeChandlerMMA – 0#ufc303
— Michael Chandler (@MikeChandlerMMA) June 13, 2024
It seems Michael Chandler is still hopeful the fight will take place at UFC 303. However, Conor McGregor is yet to comment on the whole situation. It will be interesting to see if Chandler gets his ‘red p*nty night’ with ‘The Mystic Mac’.
