Conor McGregor issues statement after being forced out of UFC 303: “The decision to postpone the fight was not made lightly”

Conor McGregor has issued a statement after being forced to withdraw from his scheduled fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303.

McGregor (22-6 MMA) and Chandler (23-8 MMA) were supposed to collide in the main event of June’s pay-per-view event in Las Vegas.

Unfortunately for fight fans, the Irishman’s long-awaited return to the Octagon will not be taking place on June 29th, this after ‘Notorious’ suffered an injury in training camp.

Conor McGregor issued a statement on his decision to postpone the Michael Chandler fight in a recent post on ‘X’:

Very tough to be ruled out of my scheduled return bout. I picked up an injury prior to the press conference that required more time to heal than was available to me. The decision to postpone the fight was not made lightly, but one made in consultation with my doctors, the UFC,… pic.twitter.com/ACNnbvr27p

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) June 15, 2024

“Very tough to be ruled out of my scheduled return bout. I picked up an injury prior to the press conference that required more time to heal than was available to me. The decision to postpone the fight was not made lightly, but one made in consultation with my doctors, the UFC, and my team. My fans and opponent deserve me at my best for this fight and we will get there! Thank you for the messages of support, I am in good spirits and confident I’ll be back! ☘️”

Conor McGregor hasn’t fought since July of 2021 when he was defeated by Dustin Poirier (30-8 MMA) via TKO in the main event of UFC 264. ‘Notorious’ of course suffered a broken leg in that loss and has been on the sidelines ever since.

As for Michael Chandler, ‘Iron’ last fought in November of 2022 at UFC 281 where he too lost to Dustin Poirier, with the defeat coming by way of submission.

A new date for the ‘McGregor vs. Chandler’ welterweight fight has yet to be announced by the promotion.

UFC 303 will now be headlined by a light heavyweight title fight rematch between Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka.