Conor McGregor’s road back from his 2021 leg break is under fresh scrutiny after a New York Times report alleged he sought and used banned performance-enhancing drugs during his recovery.
According to the report, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who performed McGregor’s surgery following the injury at UFC 264, wrote a letter supporting an application for a special exemption to allow the use of performance-enhancing drugs in McGregor’s rehabilitation. The exemption was not granted. The report states officials later discovered McGregor had taken banned substances when he disclosed his status before re-entering the testing pool in October 2023.
Dr. ElAttrache defended the medical use of such substances, saying, "You are acting as if ‘banned drugs’ are somehow ‘illegal drugs’ or that they have no legitimate therapeutic use and only have performance enhancement use," and adding, "There are many ‘banned drugs’ on the list which are necessary to medically treat various conditions which occur in people. That is why a therapeutic use exemption application exists." He also wrote that treatment "could optimize his chance of solid union and healing of his fractures and decrease the chances that he would be left with incompletely healed fracture lines."
McGregor’s manager Audie Attar described the severity of the injury, saying there was "a real risk Conor might not walk again" and that doctors "oversaw a combination of a gruesome surgery, intense physical therapy and appropriately prescribed medicines."
UFC CFO Hunter Campbell stated that McGregor "maintained proper communication with our team" and was "in full compliance with the rules of our comprehensive drug program."
McGregor is scheduled to headline UFC 329 in a welterweight bout against Max Holloway on July 11 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
