Conor McGregor out of UFC 303 due to injury

Conor McGregor will not fight in UFC 303 due to an injury, UFC chief executive officer Dana White announced.

The exit of the Irish superstar also leaves his scheduled welterweight opponent, Michael Chandler, off the card for the 29 June event in Las Vegas.

It is unclear when or if the non-title bout between McGregor (22-6) and Chandler (23-8) will occur. The nature of the injury has not been made public.

The new UFC 303 headline fight will be the light heavyweight title clash between Jiri Prochazka and champion Alex Pereira.

In another schedule change, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hillis out of his slated fight against Carlos Ulberg. Instead, Anthony Smith will oppose Ulberg. Hill's original foe was due to be Khalil Rountree Jr, but the latter is serving a two-month doping ban.

Added to the card as a new co-main event will be a match-up of featherweights Diego Lopes and Brian Ortega.

McGregor, 35, was preparing for his first fight since July 2021, when he lost for his second straight match-up with Dustin Poirier. McGregor last won when he beat Donald Cerrone in January 2020, following up a defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018.

Chandler, a 38-year-old Missouri native who fights out of Florida, has also lost three of his past four bouts. His most recent action was a defeat against Poirier in November 2022.