Less than a week after a New York Times report accused Conor McGregor of taking “powerful, banned drugs” with the support of noted surgeon Neal ElAttrache, the UFC and its former two-division champion are firing back.
The Times investigation reported this past Thursday that McGregor took performance-enhancing drugs in effort to heal from the gruesome broken leg he suffered in his most recent UFC fight, a first-round TKO loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021. The Times report accused McGregor of evading UFC’s drug-testing parter at the time, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and receiving banned drugs from a bone-healing specialist referred to McGregor by ElAttrache.
Those drugs, per the Times, were given to McGregor in order to assist with faster muscle building than the human body can naturally achieve.
McGregor has not fought since his 2021 loss but is currently scheduled to return on July 11 at UFC 329 in a rematch against Max Holloway.
Speaking Tuesday in a rare in-studio interview with “The Ariel Helwani Show,” McGregor called the whole situation “shocking.”
“A man’s private medical [information], and the most devastating injury that you can see in combat sports — the whole thing is strange to me,” McGregor told Uncrowned. “You have an injury like that, you’re not going to walk again. The objective should be to get that athlete — that fighter who’s given his life, his limb, his livelihood for the entertainment of the people and for the profit of the company — it should be ‘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 [USADA]. And I find that strange and I find that wrong.
“So all I cared about was, I’m airlifted out of this f***ing arena with my leg hanging off — how am I going to walk again? A bar [in my leg], do this, do that — do it, that’s it. And that was that. So the fact that five years after the fact [this comes out], I just 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 leg doesn’t join together again, it’s call a non-union, where the bone doesn’t join, you’re left on a wobble forever,” McGregor added. “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 was the case, but whatever, I took myself out of the [testing] pool, listened to my doctors, didn’t ask questions. I don’t even know [what I took] — if you were to ask what it was, I don’t even know. I don’t know, I don’t need [to 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.”
ElAttrache is also the team physician for the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers. He is currently under MLB investigation by following the Times report.
McGregor’s comments came just hours after UFC issued its own sharp response to the Times investigation — a rarity in today’s era of the promotion. In it, UFC dismissed the Times report as “a continued attempt by USADA leadership to misrepresent the facts surrounding UFC’s unilateral decision to terminate our agreement with them and instead choose to partner with a far more competent, organized, and sophisticated testing group.”
The UFC and USADA’s drug-testing partnership ended in a somewhat bitter and public divorce following the end of 2023. Since then, UFC has operated its testing program through Drug Free Sport and Combat Sports Anti-Doping.
UFC’s full response to the Times report:
In 2021, Conor McGregor sustained a potentially career-ending injury and sought medical guidance from leading orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who advised the appropriate recovery and rehabilitation protocol. As a result, McGregor did not compete for five years and maintained proper communication with our team throughout, remaining in full compliance with the rules of our comprehensive drug program.
McGregor has been tested 19 times over the past two years, including 12 times in 2026, making him the most tested athlete during this time.
Any suggestion that UFC’s decision to end its partnership with USADA was related to Conor McGregor is categorically false. Internal communications and documentation clearly show that discussions regarding a transition away from USADA began months before any conversations involving McGregor.
This narrative is a continued attempt by USADA leadership to misrepresent the facts surrounding UFC’s unilateral decision to terminate our agreement with them and instead choose to partner with a far more competent, organized, and sophisticated testing group comprised of Drug Free Sport, Combat Sports Anti-Doping, and SMRTL laboratories.
The health and safety of our athletes remain our highest priority. We fully support Conor McGregor and look forward to his return to the Octagon this summer.
In 2021, Conor McGregor sustained a potentially career-ending injury and sought medical guidance from leading orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who advised the appropriate recovery and rehabilitation protocol. As a result, McGregor did not compete for five years and maintained proper communication with our team throughout, remaining in full compliance with the rules of our comprehensive drug program.
McGregor has been tested 19 times over the past two years, including 12 times in 2026, making him the most tested athlete during this time.
Any suggestion that UFC’s decision to end its partnership with USADA was related to Conor McGregor is categorically false. Internal communications and documentation clearly show that discussions regarding a transition away from USADA began months before any conversations involving McGregor.
This narrative is a continued attempt by USADA leadership to misrepresent the facts surrounding UFC’s unilateral decision to terminate our agreement with them and instead choose to partner with a far more competent, organized, and sophisticated testing group comprised of Drug Free Sport, Combat Sports Anti-Doping, and SMRTL laboratories.
The health and safety of our athletes remain our highest priority. We fully support Conor McGregor and look forward to his return to the Octagon this summer.
McGregor, 37, ultimately received an 18-month suspension under the UFC anti-doping policy in October, which was retroactive to Sept. 20, 2024, for repeated failures to complete whereabouts checks for drug testing within a 12-month window. McGregor missed three testing attempts in 2024 on June 13, Sept. 19 and Sept. 20 of that year.
McGregor’s suspension ended on March 20.
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