UFC president Dana White has provided an injury update on Conor McGregor after revealing that he is suffering from chronic arthritis.

The 33-year-old Irishman suffered a broken tibia and fibula in his left leg during his defeat to his American rival Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in Las Vegas, forcing him to undergo surgery and miss the remainder of the calendar year as a result. 

However, the Notorious has no intention of walking away from the sport that made him famous or indeed his career as a fighter. 

White has added that McGregor has been plagued by 'ankle issues' over the past couple of years, saying that he 'opted not to tape them.'

“[McGregor] has had ankle issues for [the] last couple of years,” White explained in a recent interview with Jesse Watters of Fox News (via MMA Junkie).

“He had asked if he could tape his ankles coming into this fight and he got clearance to do it from the Nevada State Athletic Commission and then he opted not to tape them.

"I don’t know why. He has chronic arthritis in his ankles.”

Conor McGregor

White has also admitted that he does not know when McGregor will return from injury. McGregor's agent Audie Attar confirmed the 33-year-old damaged his tibia and fibula, but did not give a timeline for his comeback. 

And on Thursday, White said: “It’s going to take him a year to recover from this one before he can come back, so I don’t know.

“We’ll see. The fight game is a tough game and the kid has cemented a massive legacy for himself and made a lot of money.

"We’ll see how the rest of his career plays out.”

Conor McGregor

Perhaps unsurprisingly, McGregor (22-6) hasn't reacted too well having now lost two consecutive fights for the first time in his UFC career and having only one win in the famous cage since January 2020. 

In fact, McGregor claims that he even considered pulling out of the fight after hurting himself in training.  

“Ask Dana White, ask the UFC, ask Dr Davidson, the head doctor of the UFC, they knew I had stress fractures in my leg going into that cage," he said in a video posted to Instagram last Thursday.

“There was debate about pulling the thing out because I was sparring without shin pads and I would kick the knee a few times.

"So I had multiple stress fractures in the shin bone above the ankle and then I have trouble with the ankle anyway throughout the years of f------ fighting all the time.

"And I also was rapping me ankle every training session.”

Read more: Conor McGregor sensationally accused of being 'jealous' of Dustin Poirier