Conor McGregor’s return to the UFC – scheduled for July at UFC 329 against Max Holloway – was already carrying plenty of baggage. Now it’s carrying more.
A New York Times investigation has revealed that McGregor used banned substances following the leg injury that ended his last octagon appearance, contradicting years of public denials.
What the Investigation Found
McGregor broke his leg in his last fight, snapping it after throwing a kick at Dustin Poirier. According to the Times report, that injury is where the story gets complicated.
“A New York Times investigation reveals that [McGregor] did take powerful, banned drugs, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. And he did so with the support of one of the most prominent sports doctors in the world, according to the doctor himself.”
That doctor is Neil ElAttrache – one of the most well-known names in sports medicine. ElAttrache not only recommended the substances but defended that recommendation directly, pushing back on the framing of “banned” as synonymous with harmful or performance-enhancing.
“You are acting as if ‘banned drugs’ are somehow ‘illegal drugs’ or that they have no legitimate therapeutic use and only have performance enhancement use,” ElAttrache said. “There are many ‘banned drugs’ on the list which are necessary to medically treat various conditions which occur in people. That is why a therapeutic use exemption application exists.”
It’s a fair point – and one the UFC’s anti-doping framework actually accounts for. A therapeutic use exemption (TUE) allows fighters to use otherwise-banned substances for legitimate medical reasons, provided they apply and receive approval in advance.
Whether McGregor went through that process isn’t clear.
A Long Road Back – With Complications
McGregor has been out of the UFC for over five years, and his absence hasn’t been quiet. Legal troubles followed him throughout, and his physical transformation – noticeably larger than his fighting prime – fueled widespread speculation about PED use. He consistently denied it.
His planned 2024 comeback against Michael Chandler never happened. The UFC’s then-testing partner, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), banned him for 18 months after he failed multiple whereabouts tests – a requirement that lets anti-doping agencies conduct out-of-competition testing on athletes.
The UFC has since parted ways with USADA and moved its testing program to Drug Free Sport International.
McGregor is now cleared to compete. Whether the cloud over his return changes how fans and the broader MMA community receive that comeback is a different question entirely.