April 14, 2024
President of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Dana White made a significant announcement about during Saturday's landmark UFC 300 event.
After keeping fan sin the dark for months, White, 54, on Saturday officially announced that UFC star Conor McGregor, 35, will be returning to fight against his longtime rival Michael Chandler, 35, inside the Octagon, Daily Mail reported.
The two fighters have been scheduled to face each other for several months and even coached The Ultimate Fighter TV show against each other.
Although speculation has been rife, White officially declared that the match will take place on June 29, as a five-round main event, at a weight of 70lbs.
When asked why the fight had been postponed for such a long time, the UFC president explained that McGregor was only recently able to train for his return to the Octagon.
"It's not that we've been working on it for ages," White said. "There are all kinds of things that go on behind the scenes. It's all about timing.
"Chandler has been ready but Conor hasn't been ready. We talked about this at one of the press conferences recently, he had a lot of obligations that he had to deal with.
"What you don't want him doing is accepting a fight when he's got a ton of obligations and he can't train 100% for a fight."
This announcement comes after Alex Pereira knocked out Jamahal Hill in the very first round for the light-heavyweight title in the UFC 300 main event.
Before that, Max Holloway managed to knock out Justin Gaethje in the last second.