{"id":724168,"date":"2026-06-12T17:33:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T17:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/724168\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T17:33:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T17:33:14","slug":"neal-elattrache-explains-pointing-conor-mcgregor-to-steroid-specialist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/724168\/","title":{"rendered":"Neal ElAttrache explains pointing Conor McGregor to steroid specialist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dodgers and Rams head team physician Neal ElAttrache was questioned by Major League Baseball investigators Friday following a detailed report<\/a> by the New York Times that the renowned surgeon and sports medicine expert supported the therapeutic use of performance-enhancing drugs by UFC star Conor McGregor.<\/p>\n

MLB spoke with ElAttrache, according to a person familiar with the matter but not authorized to comment publicly. The league considered the interview informational, not an investigation. The NFL, Rams and Dodgers declined comment. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have spoken with MLB and I am very comfortable with the process that the league and I will complete to assure the public that I have followed every rule and regulation in my medical treatment of athletes without exception,\u201d ElAttrache said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. \u201cMy record is completely clean, including in this case. I will leave it to MLB officials to provide any further comment as they see fit.\u201c<\/p>\n

ElAttrache performed surgery on McGregor in July 2021, inserting a rod, plates and screws into his left leg after the fighter broke his tibia and fibula during a bout against Dustin Poirier in Las Vegas. <\/p>\n

McGregor\u2019s recovery was lengthy and arduous. ElAttrache told the New York Times that while he did not prescribe steroids for McGregor, he referred him to a specialist who did. Furthermore, ElAttrache wrote a letter supporting McGregor\u2019s request for a therapeutic use exemption from UFC drug policies. <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt it would be appropriate to consult other physicians with expertise in bone healing\/bone metabolism,\u201d ElAttrache told the paper via text. \u201cI recommended the consultations but not the course of treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

ElAttrache said he told McGregor to check with UFC drug testers about prescriptions the consultant gave him. \u201cI purposely wasn\u2019t involved with his evaluation by the consultant nor with prescribing medication,\u201d ElAttrache said.<\/p>\n

The exemption request was denied by USADA (the drug testing organization the UFC used then), triggering a split between the two organizations. McGregor withdrew from the UFC anti-doping program shortly thereafter and was no longer required to undergo testing for banned substances. <\/p>\n

ElAttrache, operating primarily out of the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic<\/a> in Los Angeles, has performed elbow or shoulder surgeries on prominent current and former Dodgers including Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin and Walker Buehler as well as former Rams stars Cooper Kupp and Cam Akers.<\/p>\n

Among the hundreds of surgeries performed over three decades by ElAttrache, his patients included<\/a> the four 2024 MLB Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award winners \u2014 Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Chris Sale and Tarik Skubal. ElAttrache\u2019s patients include 18 of 29 players who won the MVP or Cy Young awards over the last 10 years.<\/p>\n

Other prominent athletes who became his patients include former Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and star NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Joe Burrow.<\/p>\n

ElAttrache was a boxer<\/a> long before he became a renowned surgeon and team physician. He attended Notre Dame, where organized boxing was first introduced by Knute Rockne as a conditioning program in the 1930s. An intramural tournament known as the Bengal Bouts was formed and decades later ElAttrache became a champion, winning the 185-pound division in 1978. <\/p>\n

Before world lightweight boxing champion Vasiliy Lomachenko returned from shoulder surgery to defend his title in 2019, ElAttrache counseled him against using his left hook because he wasn\u2019t mentally ready to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that arm goes into that position, the brain remembers that was the position where that dislocation occurred,\u201d ElAttrache told the Los Angeles Times<\/a> at the time. \u201cIt takes time to overcome that apprehension.\u201d <\/p>\n

It has taken McGregor five years since his injury to return to the octagon. He is scheduled to do so July 11 in a welterweight bout against Max Holloway at UFC 329 in Las Vegas as the main event of International Fight Week.<\/p>\n

His recovery and startling physical transformation hardly a year after his injury became a frequent topic on social media. Fellow UFC fighter Anthony Smith said on Michael Bisping\u2019s \u201cBelieve You Me\u201d podcast<\/a> in November 2022 that the reason McGregor pulled out of the UFC drug testing pool was obvious.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only one reason you would do that,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHe\u2019s looking jacked as s\u2014. You keep seeing videos of him flexing in front of mirrors and screaming and he\u2019s huge. He healed really fast. Like, really fast.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his show in December 2022, podcast host Joe Rogan noted McGregor\u2019s impressive physique and the USADA testing loophole.<\/p>\n

ElAttrache told the New York Times that he stopped treating McGregor after steering the fighter to someone who could obtain banned substances.<\/p>\n

\u201cI purposely wasn\u2019t involved with his evaluation by the consultant nor with prescribing medication,\u201d ElAttrache told the Times. He said \u201cexpert opinions\u201d could help McGregor and \u201coptimize his chance of solid union and healing of his fractures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeking the exemption, however, was viewed by USADA and some UFC officials as McGregor trying to find a way to use banned drugs. McGregor re-entered the drug-testing pool on Oct. 8, 2023, the same day UFC notified USADA that it would end the partnership. <\/p>\n

Because McGregor had long been suspected of taking banned substances to revive his career, the mixed martial arts community reacted to the New York Times investigation with a measure of closure.<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, it\u2019s confirmed now,\u201d co-host Conner Burks on the popular MMA podcast \u201cThe Boys in the Back\u201d said. \u201cNone of this came as a massive shock to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed like the worst kept secret in combat sports,\u201d co-host Eric Jackman said.<\/p>\n

In a written response to a question posed by the New York Times, McGregor\u2019s manager, Audie Attar, did not say whether McGregor had used banned substances. He said that \u201ceven with surgery there was a real risk Conor might not walk again, a high likelihood he would face numerous lifelong side effects that would limit his mobility and serious doubts he would ever return to the octagon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attar said McGregor withdrew from the UFC drug-testing pool \u201cto focus fully on his recovery\u201d under the care of \u201chis team of world-renowned physicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey oversaw a combination of a gruesome surgery, intense physical therapy and appropriately prescribed medicines,\u201d Attar said. \u201cIt is an unfathomable breach of health and privacy protections that my client\u2019s purported personal medical records would be disclosed.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGregor attempted to return to fighting in June 2024, but a scheduled bout against Michael Chandler was canceled because McGregor broke a toe during training.<\/p>\n

Combat Sports Anti-Doping officials were unable to locate McGregor for testing on the day the fight was canceled, and he missed tests on two subsequent occasions. Under the UFC Whereabouts Policy, the three failures constituted an anti-doping violation equivalent to a failed drug test.<\/p>\n

The UFC suspended McGregor in October 2025 for 18 months because of testing violations. The suspension expired in June, clearing him to compete. <\/p>\n

Times staff writers Bill Shaikin, Sam Farmer and Gary Klein contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dodgers and Rams head team physician Neal ElAttrache was questioned by Major League Baseball investigators Friday following a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[90461,5,90460,90459,39,23291,1165,4332,4333,774,57,1593,3224,4331,4,23602,26040,40861,16168,54447,7826,1913,13806,90462,1319],"class_list":["post-724168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-audie-attar","tag-baseball","tag-bout","tag-conor-mcgregor","tag-dodgers","tag-drug","tag-la","tag-la-dodgers","tag-ladodgers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesdodgers","tag-mlb","tag-neal-elattrache","tag-new-york-times","tag-patient","tag-recovery","tag-substance","tag-surgery","tag-testing","tag-ufc","tag-usada","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116738339890527401","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}