Henry Cejudo recently weighed in on Conor McGregor's recent pullout from UFC 303, where he was scheduled to compete inside the octagon for the first time in three years. The Irishman's return against Michael Chandler was highly anticipated and generated the highest gate in the promotion's history.
Dana White officially announced that the former two-division UFC champion had sustained an injury, and so the bout against Chandler would be postponed. As a result, many fighters and analysts have shared their reactions to the news as they speculate on when and where the bout could take place.
During a recent episode of his Pound 4 Pound podcast, 'Triple C' brought up that 'The Notorious' withdrawing from the event could be a positive rather than a negative. Cejudo mentioned that he believes making an honest assessment of how he felt physically could serve McGregor well when he resumes his preparation for Chandler. He said:
"The fact that Conor McGregor has to pull out, that's actually a really good sign. He's probably killed a little bit of his ego. And now he's taking it [his return] a lot more serious than ever. He's at that point where, 'I wanna make sure that I'm a hundred percent'."
Check out Henry Cejudo's comments below:
Kamaru Usman agrees with Henry Cejudo's assessment of Conor McGregor's withdrawl from UFC 303
Kamaru Usman also chimed in with his thoughts on Conor McGregor's withdrawal from the UFC 303 main event and agreed with Henry Cejudo's assessment.
During the aforementioned podcast, the former welterweight champion noted that the Irishman pulling out of the fight also affects Michael Chandler, who has been patient throughout the process. Usman mentioned that despite the delay, he believes it's a positive sign that McGregor wants to ensure he is at his best when he fights. He said:
"Michael Chandler, now once again, is sitting twiddling his thumbs. There's a lot of things that go into a fight like this. There's a lot of preparation and it seems like it just continues to be pulled away. It's like dangling a carrot in front of him. It sucks, but good on Conor [McGregor] for being able to say you know what, I'm not prepared enough to go in there."
Check out Dana White's announcement regarding Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler being off UFC 303 below: