Conor McGregor injured, new UFC 303 main event announced

Conor McGregor will not be returning to the octagon at UFC 303 against Michael Chandler and a new main event for the June 29 event has been announced.  

McGregor has been forced out of the anticipated match due to injury.  UFC CEO Dana White officially announced the news in a social media video on Thursday.  Stepping into the main event slot is a middleweight title bout rematch between champion Alex Pereira and former titleholder Jiri Prochazka.  

“Conor McGregor is out of (UFC) 303 versus Michael Chandler with an injury,” White said in the video.  “The new main event is Alex Pereira, former, not only UFC middleweight champion, he’s also the first and only fighter to win both middleweight and light heavyweight titles in UFC history. He also did it in the shortest amount of time.  He did it in 736 days in seven fights.  He finished seven of nine wins by knockout, which is a 78-percent finish rate, and won 10 of his last 11 fights.  He is facing former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka, who has an unbelievable 23 first-round wins.

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Pereira and Prochazka first fought at UFC 295 in November 2023 with Pereira stopping Prochazka via TKO in the second round.  Prochazka felt the stoppage was premature.

The McGregor and Chandler fight had been in the making since they coached The Ultimate Fighter 31 as opposing coaches last year.  McGregor has been out of action since breaking his leg in a trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.  His withdraw came after weeks of speculation after a press conference promoting the event in Dublin was abruptly canceled at the last minute earlier this month. The severity of the injury remains unclear.