Conor McGregor faces more controversy, but this time, it’s closer to the octagon.
A New York Times report published Thursday claimed that the 37-year-old took banned performance-enhancing drugs during his recovery from a leg injury he suffered during the Dustin Poirier fight at UFC 264 on July 10, 2021. That was when McGregor snapped his own leg, and is McGregor’s last fight.
Doctor Neal ElAttrache oversaw the surgery to repair McGregor’s leg and is a known figure who has treated many Hollywood actors and top athletes. Michael S. Schmidt spoke to the doctor, who said through text that he sent McGregor to specialists in bone hearing and “explained that I don’t prescribe hormone or steroid treatment.”
In 2022, McGregor left the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s testing pool. The former champion’s physique noticeably changed during that time, which elicited suspicion from other fighters and Joe Rogan that McGregor left the testing pool to take PEDs.
McGregor re-entered the USADA testing pool in 2023 ahead of an eventually canceled fight against Michael Chandler. USADA did not renew its contract with UFC, which now oversees its own drug-testing program. Both sides have publicly disputed the true reasons for their split.
The UFC handed McGregor an 18-month suspension in 2025 after McGregor failed to disclose his whereabouts for drug testing on three occasions the previous year. The suspension ended this year, and the UFC announced McGregor would face Max Holloway in a welterweight bout at UFC 329 on July 11 in Las Vegas.
McGregor’s manager, Audie Attar, did not tell The Times whether or not McGregor used PEDs, but spoke to the severity of the leg injury. Attar claimed that McGregor withdrew from the drug testing pool “to focus fully on his recovery” under the care of “his team of world-renowned physicians.”
UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell also didn’t directly address The Times whether or not McGregor used PEDs, but said that McGregor “maintained proper communication with our team” and remained “in full compliance with the rules of our comprehensive drug program.”
In subsequent text messages between The Times and ElAttrache, the doctor explained his diagnosis of McGregor’s leg injury and clarified that he wasn’t involved in McGregor’s evaluation with a consultant or in prescribing medication.
ElAttrache said that he had written a letter supporting McGregor’s application for a therapeutic use exemption that would permit him to use banned substances. This application was later denied, and ElAttrache claimed that his support was based on science. However, he declined to cite the research that endorsed the use of PEDs to heal a broken bone.
The Times spoke with ten sports doctors, sports officials, and trauma surgeons, and they didn’t know of any example of a pro athlete ever granted a special exemption to use PEDs for that purpose. ElAttrache further defended the use of banned drugs for therapeutic exemptions.
The USADA declined to answer The Times’ questions, and McGregor and Dana White did not immediately respond. However, it likely will be a story, along with many others, with McGregor scheduled for a comeback fight for the first time in five years.
