Conor McGregor’s return date has been officially announced.
After the spectacular UFC 300 event, UFC CEO Dana White announced McGregor would return to headline UFC 303 on June 29 against Michael Chandler at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for International Fight Week.
The fight will be fought at welterweight.
It will be tough for any event to follow UFC 300.
UFC 301 on May 4 will see Alexandre Pantoja defending his men’s flyweight title against Steve Erceg.
Even if White grants Alex Pereira his wish and allows him to compete in his home country of Brazil as a heavyweight, it won’t come close to the hype that we saw for UFC 300.
In June, the UFC will head to Newark for UFC 302.
That event will take place on June 1. The main event of UFC 302 will see Islam Makhachev defend his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier.
In the co-main event, Sean Strickland will face Paulo Costa in a matchup that, if Strickland wins, could lead to a title shot for him.
Makhachev is the pound-for-pound king and will face one of the sport’s most popular fighters in Poirier. The Strickland-Costa fight is seemingly a perfect co-main event, too. Even more significant, UFC 303 could rival UFC 300 in hype simply because of McGregor’s presence.
The former featherweight and lightweight champion has headlined the promotion’s highest-grossing events. The UFC will need a solid co-main event and another world-title fight scheduled, but things look promising.
It’ll be International Fight Week, which has traditionally produced some star-studded events. I’d expect to see at least one championship fight added to the card, considering McGregor-Chandler is the main event, but there won’t be a title on the line.
Stay tuned for more information on UFC 302 and 303 as it becomes available.
