UFC 303 Fight Card Shuffled Due To Conor McGregor, Jamahal Hill Injuries

UFC 303 Fight Card Shuffled Due To Conor McGregor, Jamahal Hill Injuries

UFC 303 has been completely shuffled because of injuries in the main event and co-main event. International Fight Week will have to go on without the biggest star in the history of the sport. Conor McGregor has pulled out of his bout with Michael Chandler because of an injury. Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill is also out with a knee injury.

The event will now feature three completely new fights atop the bill. The main event will feature a light heavyweight title fight between Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka. That fight will be a rematch of the pair’s UFC 295 bout. The co-main event will be a completely new match-up between featherweights Diego Lopes and Brian Ortega. In the feature bout, Anthony Smith fills in for Hill to fight Carlos Ulberg.

UFC CEO Dana White announced the shuffle on X.

UFC 303 International Fight Week June 29th pic.twitter.com/P47PSsKcg0

— danawhite (@danawhite) June 14, 2024

MMA journalist Ariel Helwani reported the UFC is looking to book McGregor and Chandler in August or September. The promotion will need to schedule another pay-per-view event into its schedule to accommodate the change. In turn, the exact date and location are not known at the moment.

Now that the Saudi main event situation has been resolved, all the focus is on 303.

They have a new main event lined up (that doesn’t include McGregor and Chandler).

They have a new co-main lined up (that doesn’t include Hill and Ulberg).

The consensus seems to be that they…

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 13, 2024

The new main event between Pereira and Prochazka is a fight that has many fans intrigued. The first iteration of the fight was an entertaining match. The pair have both seen their stock rise since that fight.

Pereira is coming off a first-round knockout victory over Hill at UFC 300. Meanwhile, Prochazka picked up a knockout over Aleksander Rakic on the same night.

This fight will add to Pereira’s growing MMA legacy. Despite his limited time in the sports, he has headlined UFC 300 and Madison Square Garden. Now, he sits atop the bill for International Fight Week. That does not even include his various achievements based on performance.

The co-main event between Lopes and Ortega will be massive for the featherweight title picture. Lopes is riding a three-fight win streak with each win coming by first-round stoppage. Ortega is a veteran of the division who picked up a massive win over Yair Rodriguez in his last outing. The winner of this bout will be in a sensational position.

The final fresh matchup between Ulberg and Smith makes logical sense. It is never a bad idea to give a prospect the Anthony Smith test. Let’s see if Ulberg passes.

Khamzat Chimaev Out, Ikram Aliskerov To Fight Robert Whittaker At UFC Saudi Arabia

The reworked UFC 303 fight card is solid. It is impossible to replace McGregor, but the promotion managed to assemble a strong pay-per-view with limited options at its disposal.

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