After teasing a late 2023 fight, Conor McGregor’s return fight has been confirmed.
On Saturday night, UFC CEO Dana White announced that McGregor will fight his long-awaited opponent Michael Chandler in the main event of UFC 303 on June 29 in Las Vegas.
The 170-pound bout is the highlight of the UFC’s annual International Fight Week.
On Dec. 31, McGregor, 35, announced in an X video post that he would fight Chandler this summer, but it wasn’t official until White’s announcement.
The two coached each other on The Ultimate Fighter in 2023 and were expected to compete after the reality show ended.
McGregor (22-6) hasn’t fought since breaking his left foot in a fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021, but has lost back-to-back fights.
The former UFC champion has only had one win in the UFC since 2016, and has only competed in four fights since then, not including a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather in 2017.
Chandler (23-8) also hasn’t seen the Octagon in a while, last fighting in November 2022 at UFC 281, when he lost by submission to Poirier.
McGregor remains busy outside the cage, co-starring with Hollywood star Jake Gyllenhaal in the 1989 remake of Road House.
Gyllenhaal later revealed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that McGregor accidentally punched him in the face while he was “talking really close” to him during a 3 a.m. shoot.
“By mistake, he clocked me in the face,” Gyllenhaal explained. “We do a take [of] I faked a fight and then watched the monitor to see what worked. ”
“Then he said, ‘Yeah, that left hook looks good, but when I do that, boom!’ And he hit me by mistake,” he added.
Gyllenhaal later admitted that he accidentally hit McGregor with his car door.
