Fans are going to be waiting a while longer for Conor McGregor’s much-anticipated return to the octagon.
The Irish MMA superstar, who hasn’t competed in the UFC since breaking his leg during UFC 264 in July 2021, was set to make his return at UFC 303 later this month — but that has been called off.
President Dana White announced the change Thursday night on X, saying light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira will face top-ranked challenger Jiri Prochazka in UFC 303.
On Wednesday night, McGregor hinted that he may be dealing with an Instagram story that referenced past injuries.
“I think the more resistance you train with, the less movement and the more injury. But the less resistance you train with, the more movement and the less injury,” McGregor said in old clips he posted.
Red flags already been raised about McGregor and his planned fight against Michael Chandler.
Earlier this month, with less than 12 hours before it was scheduled to begin, the news conference for UFC 303 in Dublin, Ireland, was called off with no reason given for postponement.
With the cancellation of the news conference on such short notice, rumours began swirling online — especially after McGregor had posted videos on social media of himself partying at a club on the previous weekend.
In one video, McGregor was seen dancing and taking his shirt off before grabbing and kissing wife Dee Devlin.
In another clip, the UFC icon could be seen dancing in front of his glamorous Forged Irish Stout workers.