For the past week commentators and analysts have been freeze framing Conor McGregor’s UFC 264 fight with Dustin Poirier to work out exactly when the Irishman suffered a break to the lower tibia in his left shin.
But now, McGregor has revealed in an Instagram post that he was injured going into the fight and there had been talks behind the scenes about whether the fight should go ahead at all.
Filming himself riding around the streets of California on a motorized scooter, McGregor said: “I was injured going into the fight. People are asking me at what point did the leg break? Ask [UFC president] Dana White, ask the UFC, ask Dr [Jeffrey] Davidson, the head doctor of the UFC. They knew … I had stress fractures on my leg going into that cage.
“There was debate about pulling the thing because 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.”
In the run up to the fight, McGregor says that he had to adjust his training to keep his leg out of harms way. He also claimed that in doing that, he was able to work on fighting from the ground, which proved useful inside the Octagon.
“I did a lot of training sessions when the ankle was sore, I still wouldn’t stop training,” McGregor said. “I used to train on my back and that’s how I developed those ground and pound shots from the back. That’s why Dustin backed away when he was on top of me and I was landing the up kicks 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 while you’re trying to do that and you’re losing you’re getting lumped out of it by downward elbows and vicious up-kicks.
“It was a skill I developed because of the damaged leg and I had to adjust my training.”
McGregor admitted that in the days after the fight his initial optimism was replaced by negative thoughts, but having had an operation on his shin and having begun his rehabilitation, he had started to see the positives.
“Now I’ve got a titanium rod going down the knee, from the knee to the ankle and the doctor said it’s unbreakable,” said McGregor. “I’m like Arnie in Terminator 2.”
Source: Read Full Article