Conor McGregor Out Of UFC 303 Fight Vs. Chandler After Suffering Injury

Conor McGregor's UFC comeback has been put on hold -- the "Notorious" is OUT of his UFC 303 main event fight against Michael Chandler.

UFC honcho Dana White announced the devastating news late Thursday night -- just two weeks and a day before the scrap -- saying 35-year-old McGregor suffered an injury, and wouldn't be able to fight. The nature of the injury isn't known at this time.

38-year-old Chandler is also off the July 29th card ... as the UFC will now attempt to rebook the fight at a later date.

Despite the announcement coming tonight, it was clear to MMA fans that something was wrong. A big press conference was scheduled in Dublin to promote the fight, but was called off at the last minute ... without any reason why.

In fact, Chandler was minutes from boarding a flight to Ireland for the media event ... but was alerted of the change just in time to stay in the States.

Now, unfortunately, we know.

But, all isn't lost. The UFC worked quickly ... and have now booked a rematch between light heavyweight champ (and former middleweight title holder) Alex Pereira and former champ Jiri Prochazka.

The men previously fought at UFC 295. AP won the fight.

The UFC also has installed Brian Ortega vs. Diego Lopes as the co-main event.

Although they're two very good fights -- maybe great -- it's still a crushing night for fans who were anticipating the return of McGregor, the former champ-champ who hasn't fought since breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in July 2021.