Dana White confirms Conor McGregor discharged from hospital, expects him to return next year

UFC president, Dana White has confirmed that former two-weight champion, ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor has been discharged from hospital following a three-hour surgical procedure to address fractures to his left tibia and fibula suffered in his first round doctor’s stoppage loss to former interim lightweight titleholder, Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier at UFC 264 last Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena.

Headlining the Las Vegas, Nevada event, Crumlin native, McGregor suffered a doctor’s stoppage loss to Poirier at the end of the opening round of their main event trilogy rubber match — after it was confirmed by the Octagon-side doctor that he had suffered a fight-ending leg injury. 

McGregor, who turned 33-years-old on Wednesday, underwent a three-hour surgical procedure in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday morning according to his manager, Paradigm Sports Management leader, Audie Attar — who confirmed that the procedure was a success. McGregor confirmed that he would need the use of a crutch for a period of six weeks. 

“Conor (McGregor) is in recovery after three hours of surgery,” Attar’s statement read. “The surgery was successful repairing fractures of his tibia and fibula. His physicians included Dr. Neal El Attrache from Kerlan-Jobbe. Conor’s long-time orthopedist, and trauma surgeon Dr. Milton Little from Cedars-Sinai. Both doctors are confident that with time he will make a full recovery. We anticipate his return to the Octagon.“

The surgical procedure, which was completed by Dr. El Atrrache and Dr. Milton Little on Sunday morning, included the insertion of an intramedullary rod in the tibia of McGregor, as well as screws and a plate into the Straight Blast Gym staple’s left fibula in a bid to repair the fracture.

According to White who spoke with TMZ Sports recently, McGregor has been discharged from the medical facility in California following his procedure on Sunday and outlined a timeframe of a year from now for a potential Octagon return for the Dubliner.

“I think they just released him (Conor McGregor) right now from the hospital about 10, 15 minutes ago,” White explained. “He’ll be in L.A. (Los Angeles) for a little while, and I don’t know if he’s going to fly home or what he’s going to do from there. He’ll be back in a year — yeah.“

McGregor, a former lightweight and featherweight champion, slipped to the #7 rank in the official lightweight rankings following his first round doctor’s stoppage defeat to Poirier — and immediately following the loss, expressed his interest in a fourth bout with the Lafayette native — who shared the same sentiment, as did the aforenoted, White. 

Whilst McGregor faces a prolonged period of recovery and rehabilitation, American Top Team mainstay, Poirier is expected to challenge minted lightweight gold holder, Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira for the championship before the culmination of this year. 

Ross Markey

Senior writer for FightBook MMA. An aspiring mixed martial arts reporter based in Ireland. Producer of news articles, interviews, opinion features, and exclusive features such as, ‘The Fallout’, ‘The Breakdown, and, ‘This Week In MMA’.