Conor McGregor lost to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 on Saturday night after he suffered a broken leg, and the former champion now says he was already injured going into the fight.
In an Instagram live video on Thursday, McGregor revealed that he had stress fractures in his left leg prior to his fight against Poirier. He said the injury was the result of sparring without shin pads. He also said he has had problems with his left ankle for years, so all of his previous injuries contributed to his leg giving out.
“People are asking me, ‘When was the leg broke? At what point did the leg break?’ Ask Dana White, ask the UFC, ask (the UFC head doctor) — I had stress fractures in my leg going into that cage,” McGregor said. “I was sparring without shin pads and I kicked the knee a few times, so I had multiple stress fractures in the shin bone above the ankle. And I’ve had trouble with the ankle anyway throughout the years from fighting all the time.”
McGregor said he is now getting the medical attention he has needed for a while.
“Now, I’m essentially getting exactly what I needed to get (with the injury),” he added. “I needed to get treatment on my leg. I needed to get treatment on the ankle and I needed to get treatment on the shin bone. I would have never committed to going under the knife unless something like this happened.”
You can see the video of McGregor talking about the injury below:
“I had stress fractures in my leg going into that cage. It was debated about pulling the thing out.”
Conor McGregor describes shin and ankle injuries he says he had heading into #UFC264 (via @TheNotoriousMMA) pic.twitter.com/0BgO3lOXpD
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 15, 2021
McGregor suffered the compound fracture when he went forward for a 1-2 combination, and Poirier threw a counter punch. McGregor jumped back to avoid Poirier’s counter and mis-stepped. He landed awkwardly on his left leg and it snapped underneath him. Those who have the stomach can see the injury here.
McGregor’s explanation does help explain how his leg appeared to break so easily. Perhaps he should not have been fighting in the first place.
