A follow-up report by the New York Times states that Conor McGregor continued his usage of performance-enhancing drugs beyond the rehabilitation of his broken leg.
Last month, Michael S. Schmidt of the NY Times reported that after his July 2021 leg break against Dustin Poirier, McGregor sought a therapeutic use exemption to use performance-enhancing drugs in his recovery without being penalized by USADA. The exemption was not granted, and the fighter withdrew from the antidoping program and was not tested for two years.
McGregor’s physician, Dr. Neal ElAttrache, supported the TUE for the use of the banned substances to aid healing, but Schmidt’s reporting included ten sports doctors denying any knowledge of a pro athlete being granted a TUE for performance-enhancing drugs for that purpose.
On Wednesday, Schmidt reported that McGregor continued to use anabolic steroids and human growth hormone after the recovery process.
One of the people said U.F.C. officials learned from McGregor that he had remained on the drugs because he liked how they made him feel and the energy they gave him.
The report states he used the substances throughout the two years, during which he was not being tested, with many noticing the physical changes in McGregor during that period. He re-entered the UFC’s testing pool in October 2023 and was flagged three times when they were unable to locate McGregor for his tests.
The UFC stated to the New York Times that McGregor “sustained a potentially career-ending injury and sought medical guidance, who advised the appropriate recovery and rehabilitation protocol”, adding that the fighter “did not compete for five years and has been tested 22 times over the last two years with 15 of those tests occurring in 2026. All samples that he provided over that time period (32 separate samples) were reported as negative.”
McGregor will have his first fight in five years this Saturday at UFC 329 when he competes against Max Holloway at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
