A day after he was released from hospital (on his birthday, no less) after having surgery to correct the broken leg he suffered last weekend in Las Vegas, Conor McGregor has uploaded a video to social media in which he talks about the operation to insert a titanium rod into his leg and the path he is taking towards recovery.
McGregor, who is currently in California as he recovers from surgery, stated in the video that he entered last weekend’s fight with an already damaged shin and ankle area of his lower leg which forced him to modify his training ahead of UFC 264.
Check out the full video and transcription below:
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“I came out of the surgery, I was feeling very euphoric. The job was done. It was a great job that was done on it and I was like, ‘yes, this is gonna be easy. I’m gonna do this no problem’ and then I hit a wall. I’m in a lot of pain. My mobility is… I’m gonna be like this for a while. It’s not gonna be a few days, or even a few weeks. It’s gonna be a bit of time. So I kinda went into a little rut after that.
“I know there’s going to be ups and downs on this journey that I’m gonna be on and I’m aware of them now. I’m a bit more happy, a bit more accepting of it and motivated to keep going. Like I said, I got out of hospital on my birthday — this is actually the first bit of fresh air I’ve got since I went into the surgery room, so I’m just going to breathe this lovely Cali air in and touch base with the doctors again today.
“I’m going to bring my family out in a couple of days so I can see my kids again and just keep the head sharp, you know? I’ve got this. I’ve got a great team behind me. I want to thank all my team from my coaches, my training partners, my family, my friends — just everyone that’s been supporting me. All my business partners… of course all the medical staff. I’m just extremely grateful for every one of you and I’m motivated to go and do this. I’m going to do this.
“The leg is better than ever. I was injured going into the fight. People are asking me, when was the leg broke? At what point did the leg break? Ask Dana White, ask the UFC, ask Dr. Davidson, the head doctor of the UFC… I had stress fractures of my leg going into that cage. It was debated about pulling out. I was sparring with no shin pads and I kicked the knee a few times so I had multiple stress fractures in the shin bone above the ankle. And I have trouble with the ankle anyway throughout the years of f*kcin’ fighting all the time.
“I was wrapping my ankle every training session. When the ankle was sore I still wouldn’t stop training, I used to just train on my back and that’s how I developed those ground n’ pound shots from the back. Dustin backed away when he was on top of me and I was landing the upkicks and the elbows. It’s a horrible place to be in when you’re against someone like me. It takes so much effort to try and land shots from your top position and when you do that and you’re losing your energy, you’re getting lumped out of it by downward elbows and vicious upkicks. It was a skill I developed because I had a damaged leg and I had to adjust my training.
“Now I’m essentially getting what I needed to get there. I needed to get treatment on my leg, I needed to get treatment on the ankle and I needed to get treatment on the shinbone. I would have never committed to going under the knife unless something like this has happened. I’m after going in and getting exactly what I needed — and what I needed was a titanium shinbone.
“So now I’ve got a titanium rod going down the knee, from the knee to my ankle and the doctor says it’s unbreakable. First of all, manage the incision, the cut, make sure it doesn’t get infected, keep the health on it, keep building back that way. Then I’ll start playing with the balance, learning how to stand on it again, learning how to balance on the single-leg again, then I’ll build the strength and then I’ve got an unbreakable titanium leg.
“Thanks so much for the messages of support. I appreciate every single one of you.”
