Conor McGregor has officially been removed from the UFC 303 lineup due to an injury. Dana White announced the news on Thursday night.
McGregor was scheduled to face Michael Chandler in a welterweight showdown.
According to reporting from Ariel Helwani, McGregor sustained an undisclosed injury 24 hours before the cancellation of a June 3 press conference in Dublin, Ireland.
This is the first bout that ‘The Notorious’ has pulled out of during his UFC tenure. He hasn’t competed since breaking his leg in a first-round TKO loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July of 2021.
McGregor is 1-3 in his last four UFC appearances and hasn’t tasted victory since beating Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone with a 40-second KO win (head kick and punches) at UFC 246 in January of 2020.
The hope is that McGregor vs. Chandler will get re-booked for later this year. The contest had been a pick ’em for months before Chandler moved into the slight favorite role at -120 last week.
The new main event will feature a rematch in the light heavyweight division, as Alex Pereira will defend his 205-pound belt against Jiri Prochazka at the top of the June 29 card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Jamahal Hill is also out of the UFC 303 co-main event with an injury. The new co-main event is a featherweight banger between third-ranked Brian ‘T-City’ Ortega and 14th-ranked Diego Lopes.
Hill, the former light heavyweight champion, had originally been slated to face Khalil Rountree, who was forced off the card after testing positive for a banned substance. Carlos Ulberg replaced Rountree, but the 11th-ranked light heavyweight will now take on 10th-ranked Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith.
DraftKings opened Pereira as a -135 favorite last night, but he was up to -175 as of early this morning. Prochazka was a +145 underdog.
These two squared off in the UFC 295 headliner this past November, with Pereira winning the vacant 205-pound belt with a second-round knockout win over Prochazka, who rebounded with a second-round KO victory vs. Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 300 in April.
Since defeating Prochazka, Pereira successfully defended his strap with a first-round KO win over Hill in the UFC 300 main event.
DraftKings opened Ortega as a -125 ‘chalk’ but as of this morning, Lopes was now the -125 favorite. Ortega is now +105 on the comeback. The 29-year-old Lopes is on a three-fight winning streak, including a trio of first-round finishes.
Ortega is off a third-round submission win over Yair Rodriguez at UFC Mexico City in February.
DraftKings opened Ulberg as a -250 favorite last night, but he was adjusted to a -360 ‘chalk’ by this morning. Smith, who is off a first-round submission win (guillotine choke) over Vitor Petrino at UFC 301 in Rio, is a +285 underdog.
Smith put Petrino to sleep last month as a +400 underdog. Meanwhile, Ulberg earned his sixth straight win and bagged his fifth consecutive finish with a 12-second KO win over Alonzo Menifield at UFC St. Louis last month.
In other MMA news yesterday, Khamzat Chimaev was removed from the UFC Saudia Arabia main event due to undisclosed reasons. Ikram Aliskerov (15-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) will now take on Robert Whittaker on just nine days of notice.
DraftKings opened Whittaker as a -115 favorite last night, but he was up to -135 by this morning. Aliskerov was a +114 underdog.
FanDuel had Whittaker at -146, leaving Aliskerov at +114 odds.
It’s unknown why the unbeaten Chimaev was taken out of his contest against Whittaker, but one of his training partners had a social-media post yesterday that pictured Chimaev in a hospital bed.