Conor McGregor says he will come back “better than ever” after undergoing successful surgery on his broken leg sustained in what he considers Dustin Poirier’s “illegitimate” victory in their trilogy clash in Las Vegas.
The former two-division world champion’s headline bout at UFC 264 was cut short on Sunday at T-Mobile Arena when he broke his left tibia and fibula when planting his foot behind him only seconds from the end of the first round.
McGregor, 33 on Wednesday, departed the octagon on a stretcher and with his leg in a brace, and was then transported to hospital in Los Angeles. He underwent a three-hour surgery, where a rod was inserted in the tibia with screws and plates attached to the fibula to stabilise the leg.
Poirier, 32, was declared the winner by TKO because of a doctor’s stoppage, meaning the American concluded their rivalry 2-1 up. He defeated McGregor by second-round TKO in Abu Dhabi in January.
Early on Monday, McGregor tweeted: “Just out of the surgery room guys! Surgery went excellent! Feeling tremendous! [Six] weeks on crutch and we build back! Let’s go! God bless.”
The Irishman, now with one victory and three defeats from his past four UFC bouts, followed with a video on his social media, saying the surgery was “perfect” and thanking his fans for their support, both in their best wishes sent online and at T-Mobile Arena.
“The place was absolutely electric,” McGregor said. “It was a hell of a first round. It would have been nice to get to that second round, and then you know, to see what's what. But it is what it is, that's the nature of the business.
“Dustin, you can celebrate that illegitimate win all you want but you done nothing in there. That second round would have shown all. Onwards and upwards we go team. We dust ourselves off, we build ourselves back and we come back better than ever.”
UFC president Dana White has already said he would be interested in making a fourth fight between the pair, although Poirier will next take on lightweight champion Charles Oliveira, possibly in December.
As for McGregor, his recovery will surely be key in determining what level of opponent he will return against should he step back into the octagon. A former featherweight and lightweight champion, he has suffered successive defeats for the first time in his professional mixed martial arts career.
McGregor’s manager, Audie Attar, released a statement early on Monday, saying: “Conor is in recovery after three hours of surgery. The surgery was successful repairing fractures of his tibia and fibula. His physicians included Dr Neal ElAttrache from Kerlan-Jobb, Conor’s long-time orthopaedist 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.”
Meanwhile, McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh said an ankle injury sustained in training camp could have contributed to the leg break.
Poirier had claimed in the immediate aftermath of UFC 264 that he injured McGregor when he checked a leg kick early in the first round, but Kavanagh believes it occurred when his star pupil landed a kick on the American’s elbow during the final minute.
Kavanagh told ESPN’s Laura Sanko during an Instagram Q&A: “A little bit of that ankle injury had been aggravated during camp. We got a scan on it. Did that have a small part to play in weakening it? I don’t know. We were [with a doctor in California] a couple weeks ago to get a scan on the ankle… there might’ve been something in there.
“It would seem unusual that a young, healthy, fit man could wrap his foot around an elbow and [break it] without there being something [wrong] there before. You can play those guessing games all day long.”
Kavanagh added that the series with Poirier does not feel “properly finished”, saying of the defeat: “It’s a bitter pill to swallow. This sport is the highest highs and the lowest lows. We’ve got to take some time to assess what the next move is. Obviously rehab and recovery is where it’s at.”
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2
Vinicius Junior (71') Mariano (90 2')
Barcelona 0
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Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
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Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
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Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
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Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
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Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
The line up
Friday: Giggs, Sho Madjozi and Masego
Saturday: Nas, Lion Bbae, Roxanne Shante and DaniLeigh
Sole DXB runs from December 6 to 8 at Dubai Design District. Weekend pass is Dh295 while a one day pass is Dh195. Tickets are available from www.soledxb.com
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
The five pillars of Islam
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
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