Conor McGregor plunges UFC 303 comeback into further doubt, as Irishman shares old video discussing injuries in cryptic post on now-deleted Instagram story

Conor McGregor has heightened fears that his highly anticipated fight with Michael Chandler will not take place as planned on June 30.

McGregor and Chandler will face off in the main event of UFC 303 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, in a fight that has been brewing for more than a year.

However, the fight has been thrown into doubt in recent weeks as an initial press conference was canceled, there was very little promotion and there were reports that the UFC has been looking for alternatives to headline the pay-per-view.

And McGregor has added to those doubts with a cryptic social media post which he has now deleted.

McGregor, who has not fought since suffering a horrific broken leg in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier in the summer of 2021, shared an old video of himself talking about injuries.

“I think the more resistance you train, the less movement and the more injuries,” he says in the video.

‘But the less resistance you train, the more movement and the fewer injuries.’

The Notorious accompanied the post with a “pensive” and “praying” emoji, hinting that an injury could get in the way of the fight.

Award-winning MMA journalist Ariel Helwani reported Wednesday that McGregor’s return fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 is “very much in limbo.”

“I keep checking in and being a pest and a nuisance,” Helwani said of his reporting on the events. ‘I found out through several sources that they are reaching people again. They contact managers. They reach fighters.”

“I would say this fight is in limbo,” Helwani continued. “I’d say it sticks. And I would say the UFC is working very, very hard right now to figure out a plan b.”

On Tuesday, Helwani posted a tweet with an update on his sources. He wrote that after pausing feelers and searching for a replacement, the UFC has resumed its backup search.

‘As I reported yesterday – as a potential replacement, i.e. a new fight, as a backup, as someone to replace McGregor, or as insurance. Just in case, all these things are in play.”

Doubts about the highly anticipated fight began when a June 1 press conference in Dublin was postponed at the 11th hour.

After the presser was called off, McGregor apologized to fans and said the cancellation was due to a “series of obstacles beyond our control.”

The events that transpired from then on had fans concerned as it seemed like the build-up was sprinting towards a wall of disappointment.

The UFC stopped advertising UFC 303 on pay-per-view and archived the free Conor McGregor fights posted to promote the event. McGregor and UFC chief Dana White remained quiet throughout, while Chandler hinted via an Instagram post that he had left training camp and headed home to Nashville.

“If you’re looking for me, I’m in Tennessee. No way out of the life we ​​chose,” Chandler wrote. ‘Walking on. See you at the top!’

Additionally, the UFC has reportedly sent out feelers and looked for potential replacements, preparing for a worst-case scenario.

However, fans saw a ray of light when the campaign for the fight resumed. On June 8, the UFC posted an official promo for the UFC 303 main event on their YouTube and social media platforms.

Exactly a week after reporting that the fight is an “all systems go” opportunity, Helwani followed up on some concerning news, noting how quiet McGregor and Dana White have been about the situation.

“I know there’s a lot of fear, a lot of doubt and a lot of concern about it. Because it’s such a big fight,” Helwani said. “And because no one involved, especially the UFC side and from the McGregor camp, is speaking publicly about this.”

“Chandler did that one interview, and that was it. And I think that has alleviated some of the concerns. But no one really comes to talk about this.”

“One step further, here we are, Wednesday, 1:13 p.m [pm]the positivity I was talking about exactly a week ago today is nowhere to be found.”