It has always been known that Conor McGregor battled through an injury to win his first UFC title, but the extent of his ailments remained a mystery until now.
The Irishman knocked out Chad Mendes inside two rounds to become the interim featherweight champion at UFC 189 in July 2015.
Conor McGregor was supposed to fight Jose Aldo for the undisputed 145lb title, but the Brazilian fight legend pulled out of the event after suffering a fractured rib in training.
That was nothing compared to what ‘Notorious’ fought through to realize his world champion dream.
- LATEST NEWS: Artem Lobov opens up on his current relationship with Conor McGregor after nasty public feud between teammates
Conor McGregor’s disastrous UFC 189 camp
McGregor beat Mendes despite having ‘no legs’, according to his teammate-turned-enemy Artem Lobov.
‘The Russian Hammer’ claims McGregor’s disastrous camp started with him suffering a nasty injury during a sparring session with Rory MacDonald, who earned his spot in the UFC Hall of Fame when he went to war with Robbie Lawler in the UFC 189 co-main event.
It got worse when ‘Notorious’ badly injured his other knee, but he refused to pull out like he did after breaking his toe ahead of a proposed fight with Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June 2024.
“When he fought Mendes for the belt, in the documentary, they didn’t actually show the full truth,” Lobov told Ariel Helwani. “He messed up his knee training with Rory MacDonald. I was there in Canada when it happened.
“Conor took him down, and Rory jumped scissor sweep right on his knee, and the crack was so loud.
“I was there when Professor [Neal] ElAttrache rang us and said, ‘Conor, you are not fighting. You need another year. potentially two years, and another surgery.’ Conor just said, ‘No, f— this, I’m fighting’ and put the phone down.
“We couldn’t even train for the camp. You know, he was just doing rehab the whole time. In the documentary, they showed when his knee went. That’s actually the good knee that went. So, his ACL was messed up on one knee, and as we were training, doing grappling, with three or four weeks left to the fight, he messed up his other knee, his MCL, and meniscus went in his other knee.
“So, now he was on no legs. You know, he had zero legs, he had one leg, and now he is suddenly on zero legs. Then Mendes gets put in rather than Aldo. A wrestler, we couldn’t wrestle at all in camp. So, this was just the worst fight you could possibly imagine.
“And what does he do? ‘I’m fighting. I don’t give a f—.’ Now, he didn’t even make it to the [UFC 303] press conference with a sore toe. That’s not the same Conor. This is not the same guy that I know.”
Conor McGregor’s comeback
McGregor hasn’t fought since breaking his leg in a trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021.
The Irishman recently re-entered the UFC drug testing pool to move his comeback one step closer.
McGregor has expressed an interest in competing on the UFC White House card on July 4, 2026.
Lobov believes one big win is all it will take to convince Khabib Nurmagomedov to end his retirement and rematch McGregor.
Only time will tell if we’ll ever get to see McGregor return after more than four years away from MMA.