The Conor McGregor leg injury was always going to be remembered as one of those career-shaping moments. But the ugly detail now attached to it is even more damning: according to, McGregor continued using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone after the broken leg he suffered in July 2021 had healed. That is not a footnote. That is the kind of allegation that changes the entire conversation around a fighter’s comeback.
The timeline matters. McGregor broke his leg against Dustin Poirier in July 2021, then sought a therapeutic use exemption to use performance-enhancing drugs while recovering. When that exemption was not granted, he withdrew from the antidoping program and was not tested for two years. During that period, the report says he continued to use anabolic steroids and HGH. If true, this was not simply a case of a fighter trying to rehab his body after a brutal injury. It was a prolonged period of operating outside the standard rules, and that is exactly why the story lands so hard.
The testing trail only sharpens the questions
McGregor re-entered the UFC’s testing pool in October 2023, but that did not close the book. After October 2023, he was flagged three times when officials were unable to locate him for tests. Meanwhile, the UFC said McGregor had been tested 22 times over the last two years, with 15 of those tests occurring in 2026, and that all 32 samples he provided were negative. Those are the numbers the UFC wants everyone to focus on, and fair enough — negative tests are negative tests. But the broader picture is still messy, and this is where the story becomes less about one test result and more about credibility, timing, and trust.
The UFC’s line is that McGregor “sustained a potentially career-ending injury and sought medical guidance, who advised the appropriate recovery and rehabilitation protocol.” That is the kind of explanation designed to make this sound like a medical issue first and foremost. It may well be true that the injury was severe and the recovery required specialist care. But it does not erase the central tension here: McGregor was out of the testing system for two years, and the new reporting says he kept using banned substances during that stretch. That is a huge distinction, and pretending otherwise would be convenient nonsense.
There is also the simple reality of where McGregor is now. On Saturday, he is scheduled to have his first fight in five years at UFC 329 against Max Holloway in Las Vegas. That makes this reporting impossible to ignore. You do not walk back into a spotlight that size with a clean, uncomplicated narrative when the latest headlines are this severe. Whether McGregor can still compete at a high level is one question. Whether the buildup around him is now permanently shadowed by this report is another. On current evidence, the second question looks much easier to answer.
