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“The Diamond” can be petty if need be.

Dustin Poirier is coming off a fifth-round submission loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 302 earlier this month (June 1, 2024). While the pay-per-view numbers for UFC 302 have not been released, Poirier’s arch-nemesis Conor McGregor let everyone know (in a now-deleted tweet) that it did a whopping 500,000 buys.

“500k PPV buys done. A nothing burger,” McGregor wrote.

MMAMania.com can confirm that UFC 303 was well on its way past 500k in pre-orders.

However, UFC 303 took a huge hit yesterday as McGregor pulled out of his fight with Michael Chandler.

Poirier had a tweet locked and loaded when the news broke and exacted revenge on McGregor yet again by simply tweeting “#nothingburger.”

It was a perfect response and probably deflated McGregor even more than he already is.

The tension between “The Diamond” and “Notorious” is always present as they have a storied history. McGregor knocked Poirier out at UFC 178 in his first fight in Las Vegas, and then Poirier knocked McGregor out in 2021 at UFC 257. In their highly anticipated trilogy at UFC 264, McGregor broke his leg, which has left him out of action since July 2021.

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Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler is no longer happening at UFC 303 on June 29.

The highly anticipated showdown between the recent Ultimate Fighter 31 coaches has been scrapped after a pre-fight press conference cancellation led to immediate speculation that the matchup was in jeopardy. The fight is now officially cancelled and pulled from the card with McGregor out due to an injury.

With McGregor out, UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira steps up on short notice to defend his title in a rematch against Jiri Prochazka to cap off International Fight Week 2024.

UFC CEO Dana White announced the changes Thursday.

It’s been a wild ride getting to this point after the abrupt press conference cancellation, which was followed by McGregor issuing a statement saying that the promotional event in Ireland was scrapped “due to a series of obstacles outside of our control.”

Despite renewed optimism days later that McGregor vs. Chandler would move forward as scheduled, the UFC continued to prepare for the worst-case scenario. That’s exactly what ended up happening with McGregor no longer returning in June. The appearance would have been McGregor’s first fight in three years after he suffered a devastating broken leg in a fight against Dustin Poirier in 2021.

The saga also means Chandler continues to wait on the sidelines after putting his career on hold to wait for the McGregor fight. His most recent appearance in the UFC came back in 2022, and he could be staring at a two-year absence before he finally competes again.

As for the new main event, Pereira saves the day alongside Prochazka in a rematch that was originally rumored to take place later in the summer.

A former middleweight champion who now rules at 205 pounds, Pereira has been unstoppable in his new weight class after winning the belt with a knockout over Prochazka in 2023 and then defending his belt with a vicious finish of Jamahal Hill to cap off the historic UFC 300 card in April.

As for Prochazka, he got back to his winning ways at that same UFC 300 card with a second-round knockout of Aleksandar Rakic. The Czech-born fighter now seeks revenge when he clashes with Pereira for a second time on June 29.

As for the co-main event, Hill has also been knocked off the card with a knee injury so featherweights Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes step up on short notice to fill the void. They meet in the new co-main event, while Hill’s original opponent Carlos Ulberg remains on the card against one-time title challenger Anthony Smith, who steps up on short-notice to compete at UFC 303.

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Khamzat Chimaev’s manager, Majdi Shammas has confirmed his client is currently dealing with a “persistent illness” that has now forced him out of his scheduled UFC Fight NIght Saudi Arabia main event with former champion, Robert Whittaker next weekend in Riyadh.

Chimaev, the current number ten ranked middleweight contender, was officially ruled from his slated headliner against Whittaker next weekend in Saudi Arabia through injury – with UFC CEO, Dana White claiming the unbeaten Chechen was “violently ill”. 

In his place steps Russian contender, Ikram Aliskerov – who books his first headliner in the UFC just three fights deep into his tenure, taking on former champion, Whittaker following a two-fight winning spree since landing in the Octagon from the Contender Series.

Khamzat Chimaev ruled from UFC Saudi Arabia due to “persistent illness”

And in a statement released overnight, the above-mentioned Shammas confirmed a “persistent” health battle during training camp had forced Chimaev from the bout – who is currently receiving treatment in a hospital.

“It’s with great disappointment announced that Khamzat Chimaev (13-) has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled fight against #3 ranked Robert Whittaker on June 22nd in Riyadh,” Shammas posted on Instagram.

“The persistent illness that Khamzat has been battling for major parts of training camp could not be cured in time. He has been in and out of hospitals several times. The condition has been kept within the team, since everyone has been absolutely committed to finding a solution. Althought all available options have been throughly considered, it has now come to a point where the team has mutually agreed that it is not possible to carry on like this.”

“Stepping into the cage not proprly prepared against such a formidable opponent as Robert (Whittaker) is unfortunately impossible.” 

Chimaev’s most recent outing came in the form of a short-notice UFC 294 co-main event last October, in the form of a close, debated majority decision win over former welterweight champion and pound-for-pound number one, Kamaru Usman. 

When do you expect to see Khamzat Chimaev fight again?

LowKickMMA.com

Conor McGregor will not be returning to the octagon at UFC 303 against Michael Chandler and a new main event for the June 29 event has been announced.  

McGregor has been forced out of the anticipated match due to injury.  UFC CEO Dana White officially announced the news in a social media video on Thursday.  Stepping into the main event slot is a middleweight title bout rematch between champion Alex Pereira and former titleholder Jiri Prochazka.  

“Conor McGregor is out of (UFC) 303 versus Michael Chandler with an injury,” White said in the video.  “The new main event is Alex Pereira, former, not only UFC middleweight champion, he’s also the first and only fighter to win both middleweight and light heavyweight titles in UFC history. He also did it in the shortest amount of time.  He did it in 736 days in seven fights.  He finished seven of nine wins by knockout, which is a 78-percent finish rate, and won 10 of his last 11 fights.  He is facing former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka, who has an unbelievable 23 first-round wins.

View the original article to see embedded media.

Pereira and Prochazka first fought at UFC 295 in November 2023 with Pereira stopping Prochazka via TKO in the second round.  Prochazka felt the stoppage was premature.

The McGregor and Chandler fight had been in the making since they coached The Ultimate Fighter 31 as opposing coaches last year.  McGregor has been out of action since breaking his leg in a trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.  His withdraw came after weeks of speculation after a press conference promoting the event in Dublin was abruptly canceled at the last minute earlier this month. The severity of the injury remains unclear.  

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In this breaking news podcast, MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew, Damon Martin, and Eric Jackman react to the breaking news that Conor McGregor is OUT of his UFC 303 fight against Michael Chandler.

Rumors have circulated for weeks that the UFC 303 main event was in jeopardy and on Thursday evening, UFC CEO Dana White finally confirmed that the fight between McGregor and Chandler is off due to injury. Instead, UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira steps in on short notice, putting his title on the line in a rematch with former champion Jiri Prochazka. On top of that, Brian Ortega now faces Diego Lopes in the co-main event, and Carlos Ulberg now faces Anthony Smith, who steps in for an injured Jamahal Hill. All that plus the UFC Saudi Arabia card has a new main event as well.

The MMA Fighting team reacts to a tumultuous day for the UFC.

Listen to our emergency reaction to the big news below and don’t forget to subscribe to the MMA Fighting feed on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and all your other favorite podcast platforms for the latest episodes.

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