Conor McGregor accused of taking performance enhancing drugs ahead of UFC comeback
Conor McGregor has been accused of taking "powerful, banned drugs" to recover from injury ahead of his UFC comeback.
On July 12, former UFC champion McGregor will make his return to the octagon as he is scheduled to fight fellow former champion Max Holloway in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The fight will be the first time that McGregor has fought in the UFC for five years, with his last bout being his trilogy fight against former rival Dustin Poirier in July 2021.
During the fight with Poirier, the Irishman broke his tibia leading to a TKO loss in the first round.
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Since then, McGregor has been recovering from the injury and working with well-known sports doctor Neal ElAttrache, who oversaw the surgery on his leg.
And, according to a report from The New York Times, McGregor took “powerful, banned drugs” during his recovery process under the guidance of ElAttrache, who is also the head physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Los Angeles Rams.
ElAttrache claims that during his work with McGregor he did not prescribe any steroids or hormones for him to take, but had referred him to a specialist who did.
The report states that the surgeon was concerned that McGregor’s bones would fuse slowly or not at all and therefore had recommended consultations with physicians with expertise in bone healing/bone metabolism.
"I purposely wasn’t involved with his evaluation by the consultant nor with prescribing medication," ElAttrache told the outlet.
In 2022, McGregor, who has never tested positive for a banned substance in a drug test, left the USADA testing pool and had not been tested since around the time of his fight with Poirier.
He re-entered the pool in October 2023 and later received an 18-month suspension from the UFC anti-doping program Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD), running from Sept. 20, 2024, to March 20, 2026, for three "whereabout failures" in which McGregor missed tests.
Responding to The Times, McGregor’s manager, Audie Attar, did not confirm if the fighter had used performance-enhancing drugs.
Instead, he said that “even with surgery there was a real risk Conor might not walk again, a high likelihood he would face numerous lifelong side effects that would limit his mobility and serious doubts he would ever return to the octagon.”
He added that McGregor had withdrawn from the drug-testing pool “to focus fully on his recovery” under the care of “his team of world-renowned physicians.”
“They oversaw a combination of a gruesome surgery, intense physical therapy and appropriately prescribed medicines,” Attar said.
“It is an unfathomable breach of health and privacy protections that my client’s purported personal medical records would be disclosed."
Conor McGregor comeback fight details confirmed
McGregor will face former foe Holloway in the main event of UFC 329 on July 12 in a rematch of their first bout in the early days of both men's careers 13 years ago.
The fight will take place inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with Britain's Paddy Pimblett, Lone’er Kavanaugh and Luke Riley all set to feature on the undercard.
Despite earlier reports that McGregor's team were trying to negotiate for the fight to break tradition and only have three rounds, it has been confirmed that the bout with Holloway will be a five round fight in the welterweight division.
Topics: Conor McGregor, UFC, MMA
Ben McCrum