For more than a year, fans speculated, theorized, and argued online about the real reason Conor McGregor withdrew from UFC 303. A broken toe was the official diagnosis, but for many, the injury felt like another twist in a saga that had dragged on since he and Michael Chandler coached The Ultimate Fighter 31 back in 2023. That bout was supposed to mark McGregor’s first Octagon walk since 2021.

Instead, the fight evaporated just weeks before the event, derailing what was shaping up to be a record-setting $20 million gate and forcing the UFC to rebuild an entire pay-per-view overnight. But now, McGregor’s longtime coach John Kavanagh has finally stepped forward with the missing piece of the story. And his confession reveals a twist most never expected: the injury wasn’t bad luck or overtraining!

Kavanagh broke down the moment on The Ariel Helwani Show with surprising candor. Helwani first asked about Conor McGregor’s own admission that he had mentally “let his guard down” when the injury happened. But Kavanagh took responsibility, explaining that they had a strict rule, as he shared, “One thing we always did was his partners would always wear elbow pads, you know, because he throws a lot of those kicks to the belly.”

Yet on the day of the injury, a UFC film crew was present. Cameras were rolling. Energy was high. And in the chaos, the coach confessed during the interview, “And between talking with John and the UFC crew and Conor getting ready, I just forgot to put the elbow pads on Tristan. So the round’s already going and I was like, “Ah, it’ll be okay, just this one time”. I saw it go in, It happened in like, we’re doing a five rounder. It was like, let’s say it was round probably, round two he did it…”

Between rounds, trying to speak quietly so the UFC crew wouldn’t hear, Conor McGregor leaned in and whispered, “My foot’s broke.” Even then, he refused to quit. Kavanagh recalled telling him they could stop, only for McGregor to insist, “No, no, I have to finish it… but I’m just letting you know.” That stubbornness mirrors a career that has seen broken shins, last-minute cancellations, and, most recently an 18-month anti-doping suspension for failing to file whereabouts, which ends in March 2026.

With that, the coach’s admission finally explains the moment everything unraveled and what was once marketed as the “Greatest Comeback in Sports History” now stands paused until at least March 2026. However, there’s one man who hasn’t yet given up on the hope of stepping into the Octagon across from ‘The Notorious’ despite the numerous delays and hurdles!

Conor McGregor is still in Michael Chandler’s crosshairs even as he steps back onto the wrestling mat

Michael Chandler is battered, rebuilding, and still waiting. And somehow, despite delays, injuries, cancellations, and now Conor McGregor’s suspension, he hasn’t closed the door on the fight that’s been dangling in front of him since early 2023. While McGregor remains sidelined until at least early 2026, Chandler is doing what he always does, staying ready.

Instead of sitting idle after his third straight UFC loss, he made an unexpected pivot. Chandler is returning to the sport that built him. On November 29, he’ll headline Real American Freestyle Wrestling against Chad Mendes in Chicago. Why take such a detour? As he told MMAKO, “I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you as a former Bellator world champion, title contender in the UFC, and built this beautiful mixed martial arts career had it not been for the sport of wrestling.[I’m] excited to get back to my wrestling roots.”

But make no mistake, the Octagon is still the endgame. When the conversation shifted back to MMA, Chandler didn’t hesitate as he shared, “I think [fighting] Conor is definitely in the cards, you know, that’s obviously the fight that I want. The fight that he wants, the fight that makes a ton of sense for the White House card.”

He admitted no official offer has landed yet, but there have been “some conversations,” and he fully expects clarity sometime between January and February. In fact, that’s part of why he took the wrestling bout in the first place.

So, one truth cuts through the noise: both men are still orbiting the same unfinished story, just on very different timelines. John Kavanagh’s admission finally peeled back the curtain on the injury that derailed UFC 303, revealing how one forgotten elbow pad spiraled into a cancellation that reshaped the entire sport’s summer and has left Michael Chandler waiting till now!