Henry Cejudo is looking at the bright side of Conor McGregor’s withdrawal from UFC 303.
After nearly three years on the shelf, the Irish megastar was scheduled to make his long-awaited return to the Octagon on June 29 for a five-round welterweight clash with former Bellator champion ‘Iron’ Michael Chandler. Sadly, that is no longer the case after McGregor reportedly sustained an undisclosed injury, forcing him to bow out of the bout.
UFC fans were understandably disappointed by the news, but ‘Triple C’ believes there is a silver lining to the otherwise unfortunate turn of events.
“Let me put it to you this way Kamaru, the fact that Conor McGregor has to pull out is actually a really good sign… Now what do I mean by that is he’s probably killing a little bit of his ego and now he’s taking it a lot more seriously than ever,” Cejudo said on his Pound-4-Pound podcast with Kamaru Usman.
“It’s also an experience for him, so the way that I’m taking it too is that they’re going to fight, but he’s at that point where ‘I want to make sure I’m 100%, like this comeback to me is [finally] real.’”
Kamaru Usman can’t help but agree with Henry Cejudo’s hot take about Conor McGregor
Usman echoed a similar sentiment in response, telling Cejudo:
“There’s no such thing as 100%, as fighters we always go in there with bumps and bruises but obviously, you’re right.
“It’s significant enough for Conor McGregor to say ‘You know what, I want to put out the best possible product out there for all the fans who have been waiting for my return, I want to put out the best me that I can – so I have to push this back because I am not able to give that right now.
“For him to say ‘Imma sit for a little bit, I’m going to push this back, and just prepare myself a little bit more’; it does say a lot, I agree with you.”
Not long after Cejudo and Usman offered their unique take on the situation, McGregor broke his silence, releasing a statement regarding his withdrawal.
Though no details about the injury itself have been revealed, reports suggest that it was minor enough for the UFC to start looking at dates in either August or September to reschedule the scrap.
Instead of McGregor vs. Chandler, UFC 303 will be headlined by a light heavyweight championship rematch as current titleholder Alex Pereira put his gold on the line against Jiri Prochazka in a sequel to their November 2023 showdown. Both men took the fight on just 16 days’ notice with ‘Poatan’ recently offering fans a chance to see the exact moment he was asked to step in and save the day.
