Conor McGregor has been ruled out of UFC 303 because of injury, Dana White announced on Thursday night.
The promotion was able to build a new title fight as the main event, as light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira will put his title on the line to fight Jiri Prochazka.
Pereira had previously been on a media tour in Australia and had been dealing with some bumps and bruises of his own, but he stepped up again on short notice for the second time in 2024.
“Poatan” previously fought at UFC 300 as the promotion looked far and wide of a UFC 300 main event.
Sources told The Post that McGregor’s injury is not expected to lead to a long-term absence, and UFC is actively looking to rebook the fight — perhaps as soon as August.
But hurdles still remain.
Building an entirely new fight card on short notice will be difficult, and finding a venue will be a challenge in its own right, with only a select few dates available.
T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas — the typical venue for UFC’s biggest fight cards — is booked every Saturday from August through September, except for the following dates: Aug. 10, Aug. 24, Aug. 31, and Sept. 14.
The UFC, of course, could look elsewhere, but McGregor hasn’t fought in UFC outside of T-Mobile Arena since Nov. 12, 2016 against Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Garden.
It is unclear when McGregor’s injury occurred.
McGregor was seen partying with his fiancée on May 27 before an abrupt cancellation of McGregor and Michael Chandler’s Dublin, Ireland, press conference on June 4 — just 12 hours before the event was slated to begin in a bizarre move.
The press conference cancellation is related to the injury that McGregor sustained, but it was not related to any foul play, sources told The Post.
McGregor hasn’t fought in UFC since July 2021, when he suffered a gruesome leg injury that was thought to be career-threatening.
