By MARK ANDERSON AP Sports Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Conor McGregor posted on Instagram on Friday that a broken toe was the reason he had to pull out of his headline UFC 303 bout against Michael Chandler after previously not specifying the injury.
“We had a lapse in concentration and engaged in a training session without wearing the full protective gear and I hit the toe off the elbow and broke the toe clean,” McGregor posted. “It needs a few weeks that’s it. I couldn’t justify to my team, or fans, that I make the walk hindered again. That walk has been seen. This next walk has got to be, and it will be, 100% Conor McGregor. The fans deserve it and we are getting close.”
Light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira will face top-ranked challenger Jiri Prochazka in the June 29 main event in Las Vegas in place of the McGregor-Chandler match.
McGregor said he would return to the octagon “Chandler or not.”
He took the X, formerly known as Twitter, to say that Chandler is getting paid 10 times the amount he would have received if he had fought someone else.
“For those saying he could have fought 2 or 3 times by now etc.,” McGregor posted, “He’d need 10 to break even with this cheque.”