Conor McGregor was supposed to face Michael Chandler in a welterweight fight at UFC 303. Unfortunately, the fight had to be canceled due to McGregor sustaining an injury.
The Notorious has yet to step foot into the octagon since the UFC 264 fight against Dustin Poirier in 2021. In an interview with Sports Business Journal, Dana White was asked if he was disappointed that Conor McGregor’s fight was canceled or if this is normal in the fight industry.
“It’s the business, man. This is the way it goes. And from here on I’m not going to talk about it until when he’s healed and he’s right. Then we’ll look at the landscape and see what we can figure out.”
Khamzat Chimaev was supposed to compete against Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia. Chimaev was pulled from the fight due to an illness. The new main event is Robert Whittaker vs. Ikram Aliskerov. Dana White stated the following about changing the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia:
“It’s been interesting because we had to switch the Saudi main event, which is next weekend, you know what I mean? It’s f–king days away, so for us to put in this guy [Ikram Aliskerov] who is 15-1, he’s Muslim and his only loss is to Khamzat Chimaev, and everyone in the division said no to fighting him except Robert Whittaker. I’m very happy [with the quality of the replacement fights].”