Devastating Injury at UFC 264

Under the bright lights in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Nevada, one of the most recognizable names in combat sports, Coner McGregor, “The Notorious One,” suffered a devasting distal leg fracture against Dustin Poirier near the end of Round 1 in the UFC 264 main event. The result: adoctor's stoppage and defeat by technical knockout.

Accusations begin flying

Within 48 hours, McGregor underwent surgery, including an intramedullary nailing of his tibia and open reduction internal fixation of his fibula, by doctors Ellatrache and Little of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Just a few hours removed from surgery, the fighter took to social media to address the injury and his planned recovery. In subsequent posts, he accused Poirier of cheating, and claimed multiple tibial stress fractures prior to the fight culminated in the injury. Controversy arose after he stated that both UFC and its president Dana White were aware of his injuries.

An orthopedic surgeon's assessment

After much speculation, McGregor posted MRI snapshots of his leg prior to the UFC 264 bout. Although intended to support his claims of pre-fight injury, Dr. Abbasi, a fellowship trained orthopedic surgeon and ringside physician for professional MMA and Boxing events, publicly disagreed with the fighter's assertion: "The problem is when you zoom in on that MRI, which I did, there is no evidence of a stress fracture to the lower leg, where he in fact did have a fracture."