Conor McGregor outraged by performance-enhancing drugs allegations

Conor McGregor is nearing his UFC return after a five-year absence, but a performance-enhancing drug claim looms over his head.

Outside the octagon, McGregor is known to skate around the rules from time to time, but has always upheld a professional standard in his career. Never missing weight despite fighting in three separate divisions and earning the coveted clean jacket, formerly awarded by USADA to fighters with 50 negative results, are just some of the milestones the Irishman has had throughout his time under the UFC banner. But, half a decade after his last fight inside the cage, the 37-year-old is being hit with a substance allegation.

PEDs are strictly prohibited within professional combat sports, with athletes caught taking them facing serious, career-altering consequences. The UFC is among the major sports organisations that ban anabolic steroids, growth hormones, and other performance enhancers, hoping to keep their company free from those attempting to gain an edge on their competition.

However, though banned from use, performance-enhancing drugs are beneficial to men and women suffering from severe physical trauma. After enduring one of the worst injuries the octagon has ever witnessed, Conor McGregor required surgical intervention. Many were unsure whether ‘The Notorious’ would ever fight again after the leg break, and five years later, it looks like the wait is finally over.

But, to get to this stage and return to fighting, McGregor performed an act that is now dividing opinion. A recent, in-depth, bombshell New York Times investigation alleged that McGregor used “powerful, banned drugs” to recover from the injury he sustained during his outing against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. Responding to those rumors, McGregor said:

“Shocking. Shocking. A man’s private medical,” McGregor said. “The most devastating injury that you’ll see in combat sport. The whole thing is strange to me; you have an injury like that, you’re not going to walk again. The objective should be to get that athlete, that fighter, who has given his life, his limb, his livelihood for the entertainment of the people and the profit of the company, it should be to get this man back on his feet.”

“And that was not the case. Not with the UFC, but with the former body that was there prior. And I find that strange and I find that wrong.”

Recovering from the sickening leg fracture was Conor McGregor’s sole focus. McGregor removed himself from the testing pool and bypassed drug-testing rules to blindly take whichever substance was prescribed, with his health the only factor important to him at that time.

“All I cared about was, you know, I’m airlifted out of this f***ing arena with my leg hanging off. How am I going to walk again? A bar? Do this, do that? Do it. That’s it. And that was that. So the fact that five years after the fact, I find it strange to be honest. And I feel the game should change to accommodate a situation like that.”

“If a doctor is prescribing certain medications and certain things to come back, otherwise you’re not going to walk again. There’s like a 20% chance that that leg doesn’t join together again. It’s called a non-union where the bone doesn’t join. You’re left on a wobble forever. That’s what’s at stake here? F*** this fighting game, are you crazy? I have children to raise and play with.”

“So, I was a bit shocked that that was the case, but whatever. I took myself out of the pool, listened to my doctors, I didn’t ask questions. I don’t even know. If you’re going to ask what I was on, I don’t even know. I don’t know. I don’t want to know. All I want to know is what’s going to get me back to my f***ing feet to be able to play with my children in a normal capacity again.”

The investigation triggered a Major League Baseball inquiry into Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the head physician for both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams.

Dr. ElAttrache was sought out by Conor McGregor after his injury in 2021. However, the renowned surgeon came under fire after referring the UFC ace to a bone-healing metabolism specialist, who later prescribed McGregor with the banned substance.