UFC Rumors: Daniel Cormier Slips UFC 303 Main Event Status as Conor McGregor’s Replacement Search Puts Top Brass in a Fix

The latest update around Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler isn’t promising. After the cancelation of the Dublin press conference, the status of the fight at UFC 303, whose gate is expected to be a record for the promotion, is up in the air. Amid the uncertainty surrounding the fight, UFC legend Daniel Cormier may have provided fans with some hope.

MMA journalist Ariel Helwani has revealed that UFC has begin to send out feelers in hopes of a replacement for the June 29 main event. This is a departure from Helwani’s previous report that the McGregor vs Chandler was going to take place. Now, Cormier has also shared his confusion over the situation, but may have given an update on the status of the highly anticipated main event.

There has been no update from the UFC following the Dublin debacle. This has cast a shadow over the main event of UFC 303, but Cormier’s words hint at they may be playing at a different game.

“Look, I’m going to Vegas. I’m going to Vegas in two weeks to call the Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler [fight]. That is all I know until I’m told otherwise.” Cormier added.

Back in May, Dana White announced that the gate for UFC 303 had already crossed $20 million. The fact that White and other executives in the UFC have chosen to seal their lips on what could be their biggest fight ever, has been a cause of irritation for not only the fans but also for a legend Daniel Cormier. Earlier, the UFC legend warned fans that the fight may fall through.

“Start to brace yourself a little bit for disappointment. I have reached out to many in the organization to try and find out what happened, and when everyone is as tight-lipped as they are right now, to me that tells me it’s a little worrisome,” he said on the Good Guy/Bad Guy  4 June. Cormier’s comments were in response to Chael Sonnen, who said McGregor may have canceled the press conference as the “Irish star is starting to focus.”

Nevertheless, there are still questions that need answering, and the most important question after Helwani’s update is that who will replace McGregor if the he is unable to show up?

There has been speculation about the Irish star carrying an injury, but nothing has been confirmed. Max Holloway has been rumored to replace McGregor, in case he is unable to compete. But again nothing has come from UFC in this regard. In fact, according to a more recent tweet by Helwani, UFC is “burning the midnight oil trying to find a replacement solution.” However, he noted that there aren’t many options and the promotion would’ve already clarified and moved ahead, if they had something planned.

While the UFC brass may not have given the fans any clarity regarding the McGregor-Chandler fight with rumors about the lookout for a potential replacement, Michael Chandler recently claimed during an interview that the fight will happen at the end of this month.

Chandler’s all positive about the McGregor fight

On his recent appearance at The Pivot Podcast, Michael Chandler revealed that he was up late at night to watch the UFC 302 headliner between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier. He then fell asleep for an hour or so when Hunter Campbell called to inform him about the canceled press event. “I woke to my phone buzzing, and it was Hunter Campbell… he called me and let me know, ‘Hey, it’s looking like this thing isn’t gonna happen.”

But the canceled presser, so far, hasn’t had any effect on the fight’s schedule, according to Chandler. After the cancellation of the press conference, what fueled the speculations even further was the fact that Chandler left his training camp in Florida to return home. But Chandler sat down to talk with Ryan Clark recently and cleared that he was training despite leaving the camp in South Florida.

He confirmed that the fight will go ahead and said, “The fight’s happening. Where we are right now, there’s a lot of speculation, but the fight is on. 29 June, it’s happening.”

Will the fans be left disappointed as Cormier suggested earlier? Or will he be commentating on the fight at the T-Mobile Arena on 29 June? Well, for now we can only speculate.