Cue the Al Pacino from The Godfather Half III memes as a result of simply if you thought the nervous hypothesis surrounding Conor McGregor’s UFC 303 standing had subsided, fight sports activities reporter Ariel Helwani goes and pulls the MMA group again into panic mode.
Helwani reported final week there was “nice positivity” McGregor would combat Michael Chandler in Las Vegas on June 29 as scheduled regardless of a June 3 press convention in Eire being cancelled on brief discover, nevertheless on Tuesday he urged “there appears to be pessimism over again relating to the standing of the 303 important occasion” and Wednesday afternoon went into additional element throughout The MMA Hour.
“The positivity I talked about precisely one week in the past right now is nowhere to be discovered,” Helwani mentioned. “I’d say this combat could be very a lot in limbo. I’d say it’s hanging on and I’d say the UFC is working very, very exhausting proper now to determine a plan B. Now, the plan may very well be somebody stepping in to combat Chandler; the plan C may very well be an entire new combat.”
Whereas particulars are restricted and being held extraordinarily near the chest, all indications are the difficulty or points are stemming from the McGregor aspect.
The previous two-weight champion has been sometimes releasing seemingly new sparring footage on his social media channels, which suggests he’s wholesome sufficient to coach and spar. Helwani reported earlier this month that any hypothesis the press convention was known as off attributable to unlawful or salacious causes similar to performance-enhancing drug use or partying have been off base.
The UFC has but to provide any official replace on the standing of the UFC 303 important occasion because the press convention cancellation greater than per week in the past, but the group did launch a brand new promotional video this previous weekend for the upcoming occasion set for T-Cellular Area.
If you happen to get rid of athletes on the UFC roster who’d be unavailable to compete on the occasion on roughly two weeks’ discover — similar to champions and star fighters which have lately fought, or these with upcoming fights booked or within the works — it turns into fairly clear fairly shortly there’s a dearth of marquee choices for the UFC to hypothetically flip to as a substitute.
McGregor, 35, has not fought since breaking his leg towards Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July of 2021. His solely win since 2016 was a 2020 TKO of Donald Cerrone.
Chandler, 38, has not fought since being submitted by Poirier at UFC 281 in 2022. He has been ready on this McGregor matchup to come back to fruition versus agreeing to face a special opponent.
The pair of lightweights, who agreed to satisfy in a welterweight contest, coached reverse each other on a latest season of The Final Fighter actuality collection, so their rivalry has been brewing for fairly some time at this level.
Burns vs. Brady in works
In different UFC information, an intriguing welterweight matchup between two of the strongest grapplers at 170 kilos is within the works for a September important occasion.
Gilbert Burns vs. Sean Brady is being focused for a Sept. 7 UFC Struggle Night time with verbal agreements in place, based on a number of reviews.
Burns, a 37-year-old one-time title challenger, is coming off back-to-back losses to Belal Muhammad in 2023 and a knockout loss to Jack Della Maddalena in February.
Brady, 31, rebounded from a 2022 TKO loss to Muhammad by submitting Kelvin Gastelum this previous December. Brady is 16-1 as a professional.
Stoltzfus can be out some time
Dustin Stoltzfus was on the receiving finish of a Brunno Ferreira spinning elbow that resulted in Stoltzfus sustaining a facial fracture and nerve injury.
“There are solely so many spinning elbows to the face even my huge ol’ head can take,” the middleweight wrote on social media. “I’ve acquired lots of therapeutic to do. My face is fractured and I’ve some vital nerve injury. I don’t know after I’ll be again to coaching, not to mention preventing. Fortunately, the good folks on the @ufc have all the time taken excellent care of me. I went on the market to placed on a present, now it’s time to place me again collectively and see what’s subsequent. Thanks all for the love, however I’ll in all probability be off socials for some time.”
Ferreira obtained a $50,000 Efficiency of the Night time bonus.
