Just when it looked like Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler would be going ahead as planned in the main event of UFC 303 on June 29th it’s now emerged that the fight is back on shaky ground.
That’s the word according to reporter Ariel Helwani, who says that after speaking to his sources he has a feeling that the fight is “very much in limbo” a little more than two weeks out from fight night in Las Vegas.
“Yesterday morning I started to hear — as I continued to check in because I know there’s a lot of anxiety, a lot of doubt, a lot of concern about this because it’s such a big fight and because no one involved are speaking about this publicly,” Helwani said on Wednesday’s edition of his ‘MMA Hour’ show. “Chandler did the one interview and I think that squashed some concern, but no one is really talking about this — and I found out, via multiple sources, that they are reaching out to people again. They are reaching out to managers, they are reaching out to fighters, as potential replacements, as a new fight, as backups, as someone stepping in for McGregor, or just as insurance. Just in case. All these things are in play.
“One step further, here we are, Wednesday, 1:15, the positivity that I talked about exactly one week ago today is nowhere to be found. I would say this fight is very much in limbo. I would say it’s hanging on and the UFC is working very, very hard right now to figure out a Plan B. The Plan B could be someone stepping in to fight Chandler, the Plan C could be a whole new fight.”
MMAfighting’s Damon Martin is also reported to have also heard from sources that the fight is hanging in the balance due to an unnamed issue with regards to McGregor.
