It has been almost a week since Conor McGregor broke his leg in the third fight with Dustin Poirier, at UFC 264. Now he is out of the hospital and on the road to recovery, but has confirmed the rumors that he was injured going into the fight.
After McGregor broke his tibia at the end of the first round of his bout with Poirier, his coach John Kavanagh insisted that there were injuries to this leg prior to the fight. This led to some moaning and groaning from the MMA community, who felt like this was just an excuse the coach was giving to protect his fighter.
However speaking in a video posted to Instagram, the former champ-champ himself confirmed that he had multiple stress fractures to that leg, which he got from a few poorly placed kicks in training camp. He thought about pulling out of the fight, but instead competed anyway, and had his leg broken.
“I was injured going into the fight, people are asking me ‘At what point did the leg break?’ Ask Dana White, ask the UFC, ask Dr. Davidson the head doctor at the UFC, they knew my leg had a stress fracture going into that,” McGregor said.
‘They were debating pulling the thing because I was sparring with no shin pads and I kicked a knee a few times. So I had multiple stress fractures in the shin bone above the ankle, and then I have trouble in my ankle anyways throughout the years, through fighting all the time.
“Also I was wrapping my ankle every training session. When the ankle was sore I still wouldn’t stop training. I used to just train on my back, and that’s how I developed those ground shots from the back. That’s why Dustin backed away when he was on top of me, and I was landing the up-kicks and the elbows. It’s a horrible place to be in. It was a skill I developed because I had the damaged leg and had to adapt my training,” McGregor added,
“I needed to get treatment on the ankle and shin-bone and I would never have committed to going under the knife unless something like this happened.”
The Leg Is Unbreakable Now
After the fight ended the way it did, Conor McGregor was rushed to the hospital, where he got surgery. During this procedure, they put a titanium rod in Conor’s shin, and told him he would be on crutches for a few weeks before getting back to training.
Conor went on to explain that the rod goes from his knee to his ankle, supporting his entire shin bone. According to him, the doctors said that this makes his leg unbreakable.
“What I needed was a titanium shin bone and now I’ve got a titanium rod from the knee to the ankle. The doctor says it’s unbreakable. Once I keep building back, playing with the balance, then build the strength… and I have an unbreakable titanium leg,” McGregor quipped.
“I’m like (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in Terminator 2. I’ve got all the tools to do this and I’m going to do it. What a story it’s going to be.”
Conor McGregor Had Dark Thoughts Too
While it is still early in the recovery process, Conor McGregor seems to be taking everything in stride. Although he says that this was not always the case.
In fact, he explained that in the couple of days after surgery, he fell into a depressing mentality, feeling overwhelmed by the situation at hand. However with the support of his fans, friends, and family, he is back to feeling positive about his recovery.
“I had a couple of ups and downs the last couple of days… I came out of surgery, I was feeling very euphoric. The job was done, it was a great job that was done and I was like ‘Yes, I’ve got this, it’s going to be easy. I’m going to do this, no problem,'” McGregor said.
“Then I hit a wall, and I’m in a lot of pain and my mobility is going to be like this for a while. It’s not going to be a few days, or even a few weeks, it’s going to be a bit of time. So I went into a little rut after that, but you know, I know there’s going to be ups and downs on this journey that I’m going to be on. I’m aware of them now, and I’m just a bit more happy, a bit more accepting, and motivated to keep on going.”
All things considered, it seems like Conor McGregor is keeping the right mindset throughout the early stages of this recovery. He knows that this will not be easy, but he seems motivated to have a speedy recovery.
