Many have pointed out that Conor McGregor appears to have an injury to his left eye, with him wearing sunglasses to perhaps hide a cut. The Irishman pulled out of his UFC comeback bout with an undisclosed injury last week, having agreed to a fight with Michael Chandler for over a year.
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Rumors had swirled for weeks that McGregor could be pulling out of the bout, after he pulled out of a scheduled press conference in Ireland. It took over a week before the news was finally revealed in a video posted by UFC president Dana White, who has not commented in the specifics of the injury.
McGregor broke his silence, writing on Instagram, but he didn't mention any specifics regarding the injury, as he is expected to return to the cage as soon as possible.
And in the image posted, fans were quick to notice that he does look to have some sort of bump above his left eye, which could be stitches from an injury sustained in training.
Cuts are extremely common for fighters to pick up while in preparation for an upcoming fight, with heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury suffering one earlier this year which postponed his bout with Oleksandr Usyk by three months.
In his post on social media, McGregor wrote: "Very tough to be ruled out of my scheduled return bout. I picked up an injury prior to the press conference that required more time to heal than was available to me. The decision to postpone the fight was not made lightly, but one made in consultation with my doctors, the UFC, and my team.
"My fans and opponent deserve me at my best for this fight and we will get there! Thank you for the messages of support, I am in good spirits and confident I’ll be back!"
White will speak to reporters this weekend with the UFC set to be in Saudi Arabia for the first time with Robert Whittaker facing Ikram Aliskerov and Sergei Pavlovich fighting Alexander Volkov.
As for UFC 303, McGregor vs Chandler has been replaced by UFC Light Heavyweight Championship rematch between current champion Alex Pereira and former champion Jiří Procházka. The two fought just eight months ago, with Pereira winning in a second-round KO.
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