In the most anti-climactic news of the year in mixed martial arts, Conor McGregor has been officially ruled out of UFC 303 with an injury, and his fight with Michael Chandler is off.
Chandler is now completely off the card as well. The waited until it had all of its ducks in a row before officially moving off the McGregor-Chandler fight despite tons of speculation the fight was in trouble all week.
The new main event for UFC 303 will see Alex Pereira defend his UFC light heavyweight title against former champion Jiri Prochazka in a rematch of their 2023 scrap at UFC 295.
Pereira won their first fight via second-round TKO and captured the vacant light heavyweight title with the win.
Pereira is coming off a successful title defense over Jamahal Hill at UFC 300. The champion scored a first-round KO win. Despite making quick work of Hill, Pereira suffered a broken toe in the fight.
It appears he is healthy and ready to hop back into the Octagon for what figures to be a substantial payday as he comes to the rescue for one of the promotion’s most significant events of the year on International Fight Week.
Prochazka scored a second-round TKO win over Aleksandr Rakic at UFC 300 to position himself for a second chance at Pereira.
UFC 303 Has a New Co-Main Event Too
In addition to the cancellation of McGregor-Chandler, which was scheduled to be the main event, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill is now out of his co-main event scrap with Carlos Ulberg due to a knee injury.
Ulberg replaced Khalil Rountree, who was ruled out after failing a drug test for a banned substance.
Ulberg will now face UFC veteran and former title challenger Anthony Smith, but the fight has been moved out of the co-main event spot.
In the new co-main event, the fast-rising Diego Lopes, also a winner over Sadiq Yusuf on the UFC 300 card, will take on perennial contender Brian Ortega.
Lopes is ranked No. 14 but looks like a legitimate title contender. Ortega has already competed for the 145-pound title twice. He lost to Max Holloway via fourth-round TKO at UFC 231 in 2018.
Ortega fell to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 266 in 2021 via unanimous decision. Ortega is taking a major risk in this fight.
He’s currently ranked No. 3. If he loses, it will hurt his chances of getting a title shot soon. A win helps Ortega, though it won’t elevate him in the rankings as he sits behind Volkanovski, Holloway, and the current champion, Ilia Topuria.
Smith faces Ulberg after scoring a first-round submission victory over Vitor Petrino at UFC 301 last month. Smith took virtually no damage en route to stopping the Brazilian, which put him in position to replace Hill.
In any case, the top three fights on the UFC 303 main card look solid. No fighter in the sport has the sway that McGregor possesses. So, there was no way to find equal value in the search for a replacement.
The promotion did a good job of constructing a solid card under some tough circumstances.
