In a stunning revelation, former UFC two-weight champion Conor McGregor has opened up about his controversial decision to go for a standing guillotine choke during his UFC 264 trilogy rubber match against Dustin Poirier in 2021. McGregor now claims that the leg he ultimately fractured during the fight was already broken at that stage, shedding new light on the shocking moment that left the fight world in disbelief.
The bout, which took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, saw McGregor square off against his long-time rival, Dustin Poirier. During the fight, McGregor attempted a standing guillotine choke, a move that many fans and pundits found mysterious at the time. However, McGregor’s recent revelation sheds new light on this decision.
In the opening round of their trilogy rubber match, disaster struck for McGregor. As he lunged forward with a lead hook kick, his left leg was subjected to tremendous stress. What McGregor has now revealed is that this stress proved to be too much for his leg, which fractured under the pressure, causing an excruciating injury that forced him to fight on one leg for the remainder of the round. The graphic nature of the injury was hard to miss, leaving both the audience and the fighting world in shock.
McGregor, a former undisputed lightweight and featherweight champion under the banner of the UFC, has been out of active competition since that fateful night in July 2021. In the opening round of their trilogy rubber match, McGregor suffered a gruesome injury, fracturing his left tibia and fibula. The injury sidelined him, leaving fans wondering if we would ever see the Irish superstar back in the Octagon.
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However, McGregor, now 35 years old, is not one to be counted out. He is expected to make a triumphant return to the sport next year, with a welterweight bout against veteran title challenger, Michael Chandler, already in the works. This announcement has the MMA world buzzing with excitement as they eagerly anticipate McGregor’s comeback.
In a recent statement on his official Instagram account, McGregor shared a glimpse into his mindset during the fight. He posted, “Lead hook kick work out of both stances, pre my last fight. You can see I have the standing back leg double shin padded and taped up as the damage was mounting on the stress fractures. I wasn’t to be deterred, though. Not then, not now, not ever.”
McGregor’s resilience is nothing short of remarkable. He continued, “Where there is a will, there is a way, and praise be to Helio Gracie, there are a billion ways to win a fight. I didn’t get to let a lot of these weapons go in my last fight as it snapped pretty early on in the fight. I just didn’t bear weight on it until the last few seconds of the round. I developed the ability to fight on one leg when recovering from a full ACL tear years prior, so I was able to maneuver around it until the end.”
Perhaps the most shocking revelation of all was McGregor’s reason for attempting the guillotine choke against Poirier. He explained, “One of the reasons I went for the guillotine was the leg was already broken. I won all of my UFC world titles essentially on one paw. All three of them. Heavy is the fight game, only God knows and only God can judge. Anyways, happy days because it is not broken now. Now it is titanium. Tick-tock, you little bums. One by one.”
This revelation adds a whole new layer to the McGregor-Poirier saga. It is a testament to McGregor’s warrior spirit and his unwavering determination to overcome adversity in the octagon. Fans can’t wait to see what the future holds for the “Notorious” one as he gears up for his return to the UFC.
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McGregor’s journey has been nothing short of remarkable, and with this revelation, it becomes even more fascinating. As he prepares to return to the Octagon, one thing is certain: Conor McGregor is a force to be reckoned with, broken leg or not. The sports world will be eagerly watching as he writes the next chapter in his storied career.
