Conor McGregor is fighting Michael Chandler on 29 June. On Sunday, there was a chance he would not. Come Monday, there was a real chance he wouldn’t, and by Tuesday, no one had any clue.
In fact, no one ever really had a clue, it seemed, except for MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, who reported on Wednesday that the feeling around the fight was much more positive. The decisive factors in the ‘will-they-won’t-they?’ of McGregor vs Chandler, a bout 18 months in the making, have been kept behind closed doors, which has only led to more rampant speculation over the fate of the fight.
That is to say: It might not be fair at all to suggest there was a chance McGregor wouldn’t compete on 29 June, when he is due to headline UFC 303 against Chandler in Las Vegas. But when a pre-fight press conference was cancelled just hours in advance on Monday, with no explanation given by the UFC while McGregor vaguely hinted at “obstacles outside of our control”, the rumour mill started.
The most sensible theory – and it is just that: a theory – is that McGregor might have sustained an injury on Sunday, required a check-up on Monday, and found out in the ensuing days that the issue was a minor one. That would line up with the contours of this week’s emotional rollercoaster, but again it must be stressed: This is pure speculation, if sensible speculation.
McGregor has never withdrawn from a fight due to injury; in fact, he has fought injured more than once. He has withdrawn from a press conference before, ahead of his high-stakes rematch and win against Nate Diaz in 2016, but when he is contracted to fight, he fights. That has always been McGregor’s personal rule, but as Helwani noted, the Irishman is well within his right to relax the rule – especially now that he is older, at 35, and preparing to return from a devastating injury.
McGregor sustained a broken leg in his last fight, a second straight loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021, six months after the American knocked out “Notorious” / “The Mac” / the UFC’s main character. McGregor’s comeback has therefore been three years in the making, and his match-up with Chandler was even announced in February 2023. The Irishman and the American went on to serve as opposing coaches on last year’s season of The Ultimate Fighter (Chandler’s team of athletes beat McGregor’s comfortably along the way), but the show’s usual conclusion of a coach vs coach fight was missing.
In fact, McGregor vs Chandler was without a date, location and weight class until April 2024, when UFC president Dana White confirmed – while reading from a small slip of paper – that the bout would headline UFC 303 at the T-Mobile Arena on 29 June. Five rounds were scheduled at welterweight, above each man’s typical weight class(es) but a division in which McGregor has the greater experience.
It was a bafflingly low-key announcement, with significantly more fanfare typically accompanying McGregor fight reveals. One month later, at UFC 301, a short but chilling teaser video aired. That, surely, should have been the initial announcement.
In any case, the fight was official, the promotion had started, and the final stretch of road to McGregor vs Chandler had been paved. It had been a complicated enough journey up to that point, but it was about to get more convoluted.
Despite/due to setting stupendously high ticket prices for UFC 303, the card quickly broke the UFC’s all-time gate record at around $20m, and a press conference was announced for 3 June in Dublin. McGregor, whose legal issues outside of the ring have strained his relationship with the Irish in recent years, had the perfect chance to reconnect with his compatriots.
Tickets were free but required signing up, with about 10,000 fans expected to pack out the 3Arena. Then, in the early hours of the day of the press conference, the UFC cancelled the event with an apology but no explanation. McGregor offered the same.
Yet many fans had already booked flights, as has a significant portion of the audience expected at the T-Mobile Arena on 29 June. That, of course, is not to mention the money spent on tickets for McGregor vs Chandler, which all of a sudden looked under real threat. ESPN+ seemingly pulled the link for its UFC 303 pay-per-view page, and the UFC removed its recently published YouTube videos of past McGregor fights. The signs were ominous.
Chandler hinted, in a cryptic Instagram post on Tuesday, that he had left his training camp in Florida to return home to Tennessee. On Wednesday, McGregor shared a photo of himself smiling on a treatment table. The caption was simply a flexing arm emoji. The next day, he posted a series of sparring videos – seemingly new footage.
Is the Irishman leaning into the confusion and exasperation around this episode? Is the master of self-promotion masterfully self-promoting?
The Dublin press conference, like all of McGregor’s past press conferences, would have no doubt increased the already considerable hype for UFC 303, as the former champion eyes his first win in four-and-a-half years. But in the absence of that press conference, perhaps the ensuing concern is the next best form of hype.
It is never simple with McGregor, it is always dramatic. And whatever fans may be feeling, the build to UFC 303 just got much more dramatic. Suitably so.
