UFC boss Dana White has no interest in talking further about Conor McGregor’s injury issues until he has recovered and is ready to return.

The promotional CEO was forced to scramble for a new UFC 303 main event after the Irishman pulled out of his scheduled bout with Michael Chandler this month. After three years out with a broken leg, he was due back on June 29, but was forced to pull out with a secretive injury this week.

McGregor and Chandler had been booked to fight one another as long ago as February of last year, but no official date was released until this year. Almost a year after their season of The Ultimate Fighter had aired they were signed up, and had sold an eye-watering $20million in tickets before the cancellation.

Dana White gives first comments on Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler UFC 303 cancellation

Dana White has had one of the most unenviable few weeks in his career, being forced to find short notice main events for two key events back-to-back. The UFC are due to debut in Saudi Arabia next Saturday, and had fan favourite Khamzat Chimaev forced out with a “violent” illness.

And then McGregor, who had been injured hours before a press conference in Dublin that was eventually cancelled, was forced out of their biggest event of the year. “It’s been interesting because we had to switch the Saudi main event, which is next weekend,” White told the Sports Business Journal.

“You know what I mean? It’s f***ing days away, so for us to put in this guy Ikram Aliskerov who is 15-1, he’s Muslim and his only loss is to Khamzat Chimaev, and everyone in the division said no to fighting him except Robert Whittaker? I’m very happy [with the quality of the replacement fights].”

Speaking more specifically about Conor McGregor, White said that he won’t be speaking further about the situation until he is finally ready to return. “It’s the business, man,” White continued, having previously been forced into similar situations.

“This is the way it goes. And from here on I’m not going to talk about it until when he’s healed and he’s right. Then we’ll look at the landscape and see what we can figure out.”

Alex Pereira vs Jiri Prochazka replaces Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler in UFC 303 main event

After announcing Whittaker vs Aliskerov for Saudi Arabia, White was again put in the position to tell fans that a massive main event had been shelved on Thursday night. He shared a video from the UFC’s Las Vegas ‘War Room’ in which he detailed their new International Fight Week headliner.

“Guys, here I am again,” he said, just hours after announcing Khamzat Chimaev’s pulling out of UFC Saudi Arabia next week to be replaced by Aliskerov. “Conor McGregor is out of UFC 303 v Michael Chandler with an injury.

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“The new main event is Alex Pereira; former not only UFC middleweight champion but the first and only fighter to win both middleweight and light-heavyweight titles in UFC history. He did it in the shortest amount of time, he did in 736 days and seven fights.

“He finished seven of nine wins by knockout which is a 78 per cent finish rate, and won 10 of his last 11 fights. He is facing former UFC light-heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka who has an unbelievable 23 first round wins.”

UFC 303 also has a new co-main event as Brian Ortega faces Diego Lopes. The co-main was due to to be Carlos Ulberg vs former light-heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill, but the American was forced out with an injury and Ulberg now faces veteran Anthony Smith instead on the undercard.