Major League Baseball has spoken with Los Angeles Dodgers team doctor Neal ElAttrache after a newspaper report linked him to alleged performance-enhancing drug use by Conor McGregor, league and medical sources confirmed.
An MLB source told FilmoGaz the conversation was intended to learn more about ElAttrache’s participation in McGregor’s recovery and that the contact was not an official investigation. ElAttrache issued two statements saying he had spoken with the league and that "My record is completely clean including in this case." He added, "I 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."
ElAttrache oversaw surgery after McGregor broke both bones in his lower left leg during a 2021 conor mcgregor fight and later wrote a letter supporting McGregor’s request for an exemption from certain UFC drug policies. The newspaper report said ElAttrache referred McGregor to a specialist who prescribed banned medication; the report also said McGregor was pulled from the UFC drug-testing pool, did not receive the exemption he sought and reportedly used the drugs while not undergoing tests.
Those details are the immediate cause of MLB’s outreach. The league source emphasized the call was fact-finding rather than a disciplinary step and said baseball has not received allegations of wrongdoing by ElAttrache within the sport. The Dodgers declined to comment, and the NFL has not returned requests for comment about ElAttrache’s work with the Rams.
ElAttrache’s medical résumé places him at the center of high-profile care across sports. He serves as head team physician for the Dodgers and the Los Angeles Rams and has consulted for other Los Angeles franchises. His surgical work includes operating on Tom Brady’s left knee after a 2008 ACL tear, performing Kobe Bryant’s Achilles repair in 2013, Shohei Ohtani’s 2018 Tommy John surgery and Ohtani’s 2024 shoulder surgery, and Aaron Rodgers’ Achilles procedure in 2023.
The friction in the current record is straightforward: ElAttrache insists he did not prescribe banned drugs, did not work with the specialist who allegedly did, and that his record is clean, while the newspaper report ties him indirectly to a specialist’s prescription. That gap — referral versus prescription — is the detail MLB officials want clarified, the league source said.
For now, MLB has taken the limited step of speaking directly with the physician whose name appeared in the report. The league’s framing of the exchange as informational keeps options open: it can close the matter if the answers are contained and documentary, or escalate if the conversation produces evidence warranting formal inquiry.
The single consequential question left open is whether MLB will convert its private call into a formal probe. The league has made no such announcement; ElAttrache maintains he followed every rule. How MLB interprets his answers and any supporting records will determine whether this becomes a routine clearance or the start of a deeper review into cross-sport medical referrals tied to alleged PED use.
