Just a day removed from breaking his tibia during the UFC 264 main event, Conor McGregor has undergone successful surgery.
In a video posted to social media from his hospital bed, “The Notorious” also had a message for rival Dustin Poirier.
“Dustin, you can celebrate that illegitimate win all you want, but you’d done nothing in there. That second round would have shown all,” he exclaimed, in the hours following a multi-hour surgery to repair the leg that snapped at the end of the opening round Saturday.
As far as the surgery is concerned, “Everything went to plan, everything went perfect. I’m feeling tremendous. I’ve got six weeks on a crutch now, and then we build back,” stated McGregor, thanking fans around the world for their support, as well as the fans at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday. “The place was absolutely electric. It was a hell of a first round, it would have been nice to get into that second round and to see what’s what. But it is what it is, that’s the nature of the business. A clean break of the tibia, and it was not to be.”
McGregor and Poirier’s rubber match had been billed as one of the biggest attractions of the year for the UFC. But on a card that provided electrifying fights in the form of Michel Pereira vs. Niko Price and Sean O’Malley vs. Kris Moutinho, the main event fizzled. McGregor jumped guard for an ill-advised guillotine attempt halfway through the opening round, then ate a tremendous amount of ground n’ pound from Poirier. When McGregor made it back to his feet in the dying seconds of the round, his leg proceeded to buckle.
What initially looked like a glancing blow from Poirier turned out not to be a punch, but the leg simply giving way. SBG Ireland coach John Kavanaugh later suggested it may have been the result of an injury suffered during training camp. Dustin Poirier, however, claimed to have broken the limb checking a kick earlier in the round.
Either way, the end result was the same: unsatisfied fans, and a long road back to recovery for the UFC’s biggest star. “Onward and upward,” McGregor stated Sunday on social media.
