‘Ask Dana White, ask the UFC’: Conor McGregor says the UFC knew he had ‘stress fractures’ in his leg before Poirier fight (VIDEO)

In a video update to fans after he was released from hospital following surgery to insert a titanium rod into his broken leg, Conor McGregor has claimed that that the UFC were aware of 'stress fractures' he carried into UFC 264.

McGregor's grudge match with rival Dustin Poirier came to a premature conclusion in Las Vegas last weekend when his left lower leg appeared to give way under his own weight in what was one of the more eye-watering injuries seen in the octagon in recent memory. 

The Dubliner is now facing around a year on the sidelines as he faces an arduous road to recovery before he can resume his UFC career – but in a video he posted to Instagram on Thursday, he says that the leg break wasn't entirely unexpected given that both he and the UFC were aware of so-called stress fractures in his lower leg which he sustained while preparing for the fight.

"The leg is better than ever," McGregor said in an Instagram video he shot from a mobility scooter in California.

Warning: video contains swearing

"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."

So concerning was the potential injury, McGregor says, that conversations were had as to whether he should pull out of the fight, but he says he instead decided to modify his training after becoming aware of the potential pitfalls of his injury.

"It was debated about pulling out," McGregor explained. "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 through the years of f*ckin' 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."

Despite the setback, which is McGregor's second serious injury of his UFC career, he sees a significant silver lining in that he was finally able to address an injury which he says had been bothering him for quite some time.

"Now I'm essentially getting what I needed to get there," he said. "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 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."