Conor McGregor Forced Out of UFC 303 With Injury, New Fights Announced

The MMA and UFC-loving world was waiting patiently to find out if Conor McGregor would make his return to the octagon on June 29 against Michael Chandler. After the press conference for the fight was randomly canceled, news about the cancelation of the fight began to be rumored. Now, there is finally an answer.

Sadly, McGregor is not going to be fighting at UFC 303, and a new main event has been announced. Though many were clamoring to see the UFC superstar return, the new main event should excite many MMA fans.

UFC President Dana White announced on hix X page that McGregor suffered an injury and cannot make the fight against Chandler. However, replacing the Irish star is a lightweight heavyweight bout between current champion Alex Pereira and Jiří Procházka.

Pereira is coming off a TKO win against Jamahal Hill, who was also slated to be on UFC 303. Procházka is also coming off a big TKO win of his own against Alexsander Rakic.

This will be the second time that Pereira and Procházka will face off against one another, as Pereira secured the lightweight championship back in Nov. 2023, after he won by TKO against Procházka. This is a huge fight on short notice, but it appears that both fighters could have been preparing to step in on short notice, which is why they are taking this fight.

Speaking of Hill, White also announced that he would not be fighting at UFC 303, as he suffered a knee injury. Hill was set to fight Carlos Ulberg. Ulberg is now set to face off against Anthony Smith, though the fight is not slated to be the co-main event any longer.

The new co-main event for UFC 303 will be a bout between Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes. Ortega is coming off a submission win against Yair Rodriguez, back in February. Lopes is currently on a three-win fight streak, most recently stopping Sodiq Yusuff with a TKO in April.

Losing the McGregor fight is certainly going to make plenty of hopeful fans upset, but the new main event should be a great fight. Procházka has been attempting to work his way back to a title shot, and now he can seek his revenge against Pereira in two weeks time.

Hill and Ulberg was also slated to be a good fight, but throwing in Ortega and Lopes should make plenty of MMA fans happy.