Reports, Speculation Signal McGregor ‘Minor Injury’

Conor McGregor’s big return fight is beginning to fall into question.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced late last night (Sun., June 2, 2024) that UFC 303’s pre-fight press conference in Dublin, Ireland today (Mon., June 3, 2024) had been postponed for undisclosed reasons. Earlier today, ESPN Deportes’ Carlos Contreras Legaspi speculated to KOlmenero that McGregor may be dealing with a “minor injury” as the press conference delay reportedly has nothing to do with drug-related issues. This comes after Ariel Helwani speculated and reported the same status. As of right now, McGregor is still scheduled to fight Michael Chandler at UFC 303 at the end of this month (Sat., June 29, 2024).

McGregor, 35, has since tweeted and apologized, claiming that the reason for the press conference postponement was because of “obstacles outside of our control.” It has also been reported that McGregor canceled a multitude of other media obligations after the news last night.

Chandler hasn’t directly addressed the delay in events but posted one of his typical training videos along with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy,” Chandler tweeted.

The McGregor match up will be Chandler’s first since a third round rear-naked choke loss to Dustin Poirier in November 2022 (watch highlights). McGregor also hasn’t competed since a loss to Poirier when they battled in their trilogy at UFC 264 in July 2021. McGregor lost the bout via first round technical knockout when he broke his leg in the closing seconds (watch highlights). The pair coached opposite each other on The Ultimate Fighter 31 (TUF) in 2023.