Conor McGregor’s press conference in Dublin, Ireland, was abruptly canceled but his fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 is still on, he says.
“In consultation with the UFC, todays press conference was canceled due to a series of obstacles outside of our control,” McGregor posted on X. “I apologize to my Irish fans, and fans around the world, for the inconvenience and appreciate all your passion and support. I can’t wait to put on the greatest all-time show in the Octagon.”
McGregor is slated to fight Chandler on June 29, and the press conference was supposedly garnering so much attention that the tickets, which were free to the public, were even being sold on secondary ticket markets.
McGregor did not explain why the press conference was canceled with just 12 hours’ notice, though UFC had intimated that it was looking to reschedule the press conference.
“The #UFC303 press conference scheduled for Monday, June 3rd in Dublin, Ireland, at 3Arena has been postponed until further notice,” the outfit said in a statement Monday morning. “We sincerely apologize to all the fans who were planning to attend. When we have further information on a new date and time, we will share it immediately. – Thank you.”
McGregor was last seen on social media partying with his fiancee Dee Devlin over the weekend at his The Black Forge Inn in Dublin in late May, although he said on a prior live stream that he had given up alcohol during fight camp and was not seen with any drinks in hand during the viral night club moment.
MMA journalist Ariel Helwani had said early Monday there was “no salacious story” going on behind the the McGregor-Chadler press conference cancelation, but offered scant other detail.
Sportsnet’s Aaron Bronsteter, was keen to mention that the UFC jumped through hoops and ladders to make this press conference a reality.
“A lot went into putting together and organizing this press conference, so the decision to postpone it is a big deal,” he posted on X.
The speculation of some wrongdoing behind the scenes isn’t an unheard of possibility, but McGregor’s confirmation that the fight is not in jeopardy leads to at least some positivity surrounding the situation.
McGregor is nearly three years removed and attempting to come back from a career-threatening injury where he snapped his leg inside the octagon in July 2021.
McGregor also narrowly dodged jail time in Brooklyn for throwing a dolly at a bus in July 2018 prior to his fight with undefeated champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
If the press conference does not wind up being rescheduled, the next time the biggest name in combat sports will pop up is likely to be fight week in late June.
