Conor McGregor’s notorious pinky toe has caused him significant issues over the years. The Irish UFC superstar recently withdrew from a comeback against Michael Chandler, which was set to headline UFC 303 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday. McGregor pulled out of the bout after breaking the little toe on his left foot, the same one he blamed for his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018.
During an interview with ESPN a year after his four-round submission defeat at UFC 229, McGregor claimed his foot was “a balloon” when he walked into that fight. “I’ve got all this footage backed up from that entire camp. I broke my foot three weeks out from that fight. My foot was a balloon,” he said.
While McGregor claimed to have footage documenting his UFC 229 injury, he never released it, and some people thought he was just making up an excuse. However, five years later, a four-part series following his life was released on Netflix in May 2023, and it shows the moment he injured his foot.
The 35-year-old was taken to the floor by a sparring partner before the session came to a halt as he alerted his team to a potential issue. “My toes are f**ed,” McGregor says before getting up and hobbling away while angrily shouting expletives as his coach speculates about a potential dislocation.
A member of McGregor’s team decides his little toe is dislocated and tries to put it back into place, but the UFC star screams in pain before bailing from the scene. After the Irishman settles on a couch, his team once again implores him to reset it as soon as possible, but he is hesitant after a painful failed first attempt.
“You tried to do it and you couldn’t do it,” McGregor said through gritted teeth. ‘Mystic Mac’ eventually allows them to try again, and after a moment of pain, it pops back into place, and McGregor’s entire demeanor changes as he says, “That was light work!”
McGregor even attempted to have stem cell treatment on his pinky last month but apparently the treatment made the injury worse somehow.
“Them stem cells are good stuff, I’m reading a bit about them, it’s an eye opener with them stem cells. But my toe is f—ing sore, and I don’t know if the stem cells into the break was the right move. Because now it’s like, you know when the chicks put filler in their face? My baby toe looks like that. I don’t think it’s the swelling any more, it’s the fluid, it’s the stem cells in my toe.” – McGregor told Severe MMA.
