Daniel Cormier: Conor McGregor’s UFC 303 withdrawal is calculated to “mess” with Michael Chandler

UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier feels there may be more to the story behind the reasoning for Conor McGregor’s UFC 303 pull-out.

McGregor and Michael Chandler were scheduled to headline UFC 303 on June 29 to cap off International Fight Week in Las Vegas. But, McGregor is out of the event due to injury, and the UFC ended up scrambling to book almost an entirely new UFC 303 main card.

Since his withdrawal, McGregor has explained it in various social media posts, although the exact nature of his injury remains a mystery. Some have speculated that McGregor reaggravated the broken leg he suffered at UFC 264 against Dustin Poirier.

While Cormier believes McGregor is legitimately hurt, he feels that the UFC 303 fiasco was part of a plot to irk Chandler.

Daniel Cormier weighs in on Conor McGregor’s UFC 303 withdrawal

During a recent episode of Good Guy / Bad Guy with Chael Sonnen, Cormier said while McGregor’s injury is real, there’s a method behind his decision to pull out of the fight.

“I have no idea what happened to Conor [McGregor], I don’t know if he’s hurt, I don’t know why he’s saying he’s not hurt,” Cormier said. “I don’t have any background info on this thing at all. What I do know, is that statement didn’t sound like McGregor. I believe, and maybe I’m a bit pessimistic, that he is hurt, but if he’s hurt…it’s not him being sad that he’s hurt, he’ll spin it and look at it going ‘I just made Michael Chandler wait for me even more’. It’s just him being the puppetmaster to ‘ol Michael Chandler again…

“Because he knows Mike’s not going to do anything. So is he hurt? Sure, but there’s a bigger game at play. Now he’s just messing with Michael Chandler…it’s the craziest thing because for so long, we’re just guessing, what is up with Conor?”

McGregor hasn’t fought since a doctor’s stoppage loss to Poirier at UFC 264. He has lost three of his last four fights overall, including a lightweight title loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The UFC is hoping to rebook McGregor vs. Chandler for later this year, potentially on a new pay-per-view event. In the meantime, Cormier and others are left to speculate regarding McGregor’s uncertain fighting future.