Conor McGregor reveals broken toe as reason for pulling out of UFC 303 bout with Michael Chandler

UFC star Conor McGregor has finally revealed the injury that caused him to pull out of the UFC 303 main event last week: a broken toe.

In a lengthy Instagram post on Friday, the former featherweight and lightweight champion explained that a reckless practice session led him to break his left pinky toe, which kept him out of the highly anticipated fight — a welterweight, non-title bout against popular lightweight Michael Chandler.

"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 wrote on Instagram.

McGregor added that the break just "needs a few weeks" to heal before he can return. "The fans deserve it and we are getting close," he said. "I will get this back."

McGregor also noted that he has two fights left in his contract, and that he plans to see them both out.

"But ya get me, I’ll be back. See ya’s soon. See ya at the top. Chandler or not," McGregor added in his post.

McGregor's main fight was supposed to be against Chandler, who has been patiently waiting for the chance to fight McGregor in what would likely be the most lucrative fight of his career. Instead, McGregor seems open to the fact that the McGregor-Chandler matchup may never fully materialize.

McGregor also posted more photos of the injury on X, seemingly in response to retired MMA fight Chael Sonnen, who posted a video questioning McGregor's injury on YouTube.

In the post, McGregor included photos of his bruised toe, as well as an X-ray of the break, while inviting Sonnen to "shut [his] pie hole."

McGregor addressed his withdrawal last weekend, stating again that he was injured but giving no additional details on the type or state of the injury. In a post on social media, McGregor only said that the choice to postpone "was not made lightly" but in conjunction with doctors and his team. Chandler responded with some genuine well-wishes, saying that there were no hard feelings about postponing.

The McGregor-Chandler match was scheduled to be the main event for UFC 303 on June 29. While announcing that McGregor was out of the event, UFC president Dana White announced that the main event will now be the light heavyweight title rematch between champion Alex Pereira and former champ Jiri Procházka.