Conor Anthony McGregor (Irish: Conchúr Antóin Mac Gréagóir;[9] born 14 July 1988) is an Irish professional mixed martial artist and boxer. He is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight and lightweight champion.[10] As of December 14, 2019, he is #13 in the UFC pound-for-pound rankings and #4 in the UFC lightweight rankings.[11]
McGregor was the former Cage Warriors featherweight and lightweight champion. In 2015, at UFC 194, he defeated José Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship via knockout 13 seconds into the first round, which is the fastest victory in UFC title fight history.[12] Upon defeating Eddie Alvarez for the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 205, McGregor became the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight divisions simultaneously.[13]
In his debut boxing match, he was defeated by Floyd Mayweather Jr.[14] He is the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) draw in MMA history, having headlined five out of the six highest-selling UFC pay-per-view events.[15] His headline bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 drew 2.4 million PPV buys, the most ever for an MMA event.[16] His boxing match with Mayweather drew 4.3 million PPV buys in North America, the second most in history
Early life
Conor Anthony McGregor[18] was born in Crumlin, Dublin on 14 July 1988, the son of Tony and Margaret McGregor.[1] He was raised in Crumlin and attended a Gaelscoil and Gaelcholáiste at both primary and at secondary level in Coláiste de hÍde in Tallaght, where he also developed his passion for sport, playing association football. In his youth, he played football for Lourdes Celtic Football Club.[19] At the age of 12, McGregor also began boxing at Crumlin Boxing Club.[20][21]
In 2006, McGregor moved with his family to Lucan, Dublin, attending Gaelcholáiste Coláiste Cois Life. Following that, he commenced a plumbing apprenticeship.[22] While in Lucan, he met future UFC fighter Tom Egan and they soon started training mixed martial arts (MMA) together.[23]
Amateur mixed martial arts career
On 17 February 2007, at the age of 18, McGregor made his mixed martial arts debut in an amateur fight against Kieran Campbell for the Irish Ring of Truth promotion in Dublin. He won via technical knockout (TKO) in the first round. Following the fight, he turned professional and was signed by the Irish Cage of Truth promotion. In 2008, McGregor began training at the Straight Blast Gym (SBG) in Dublin under John Kavanagh.[24]
Professional mixed martial arts career
Early career (2008–2013)
On 9 March 2008, McGregor had his first professional MMA bout, as a lightweight, defeating Gary Morris with a second-round TKO. After McGregor won his second fight against Mo Taylor, he made his featherweight debut in a loss via submission against Artemij Sitenkov. After a victory at featherweight in his next bout against Stephen Bailey, McGregor contemplated a different career path before his mother contacted his coach John Kavanagh and reinvigorated him to continue pursuing mixed martial arts.[25]
McGregor then won his next fight, also at featherweight, against Connor Dillon, before moving back to lightweight for a fight against Joseph Duffy, in which he received his second professional loss after submitting to an arm-triangle choke. Following this, during 2011 and 2012, McGregor went on an eight-fight winning streak,[26] during which he won both the CWFC Featherweight and Lightweight championships, making him the first European professional mixed martial artist to hold titles in two divisions simultaneously. In February 2013, UFC president Dana White made a trip to Dublin, Ireland to receive a Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage from Trinity College and was inundated with requests to sign McGregor to the UFC. After a meeting with McGregor, and talking with UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, White offered him a contract days later.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (2013–present)
2013
UFC debut
In February 2013, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced that they had signed McGregor to a multi-fight contract.[27] In joining, McGregor became only the second fighter from Ireland to compete for the company, following fellow SBG team member Tom Egan.
On 6 April 2013, McGregor made his UFC debut against Marcus Brimage at UFC on Fuel TV: Mousasi vs. Latifi.[28] Mc Gregor won the fight on round one.[29] The win also earned McGregor his first "Knockout of the Night" award.[30]
McGregor was expected to face Andy Ogle on 17 August 2013 at UFC Fight Night 26, but Ogle pulled out of the bout citing an injury and was replaced by Max Holloway.[31] McGregor won the fight by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, and 30–26). Following the bout with Holloway, an MRI scan revealed that McGregor had torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during the bout and would require surgery, keeping him out of action for up to ten months.[32]
2014
Return after injury
McGregor was expected to face Cole Miller on 19 July 2014 at UFC Fight Night 46 in his comeback bout after recovering from his ACL injury.[33] However, Miller pulled out of the bout citing a thumb injury and was replaced by Diego Brandão.[34] McGregor fought Brandão in front of a loud, rowdy crowd of 9,500 at The O2 in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland. The fight was officially halted by referee Leon Roberts at 4:05 of the first round. The win earned McGregor his first "Performance of the Night" award.[35]
Prior to his next bout, McGregor met with Lorenzo Fertitta and signed a new multi-fight contract with the UFC. McGregor next faced Dustin Poirier on 27 September 2014 at UFC 178.[36] Despite McGregor landing 9 significant strikes to Poirier's 10, he managed to secure a victory early on in the first round, by pressuring Poirier onto his back foot, before exploding with a left hook behind Poirier's ear, forcing referee Herb Dean to step in. The finish officially came at 1:46 into the first round.[37][38] This marked Poirier's first UFC loss via KO/TKO, and earned McGregor his second straight "Performance of the Night" award.[39]
2015
Championship pursuits
McGregor faced Dennis Siver on 18 January 2015 at UFC Fight Night 59. [40][41] McGregor won the fight via TKO on the second round.[42] The victory also earned McGregor his third straight "Performance of the Night" award
Interim Featherweight Championship bout
The highly anticipated bout with Aldo was announced on 30 January 2015, at the UFC 183 Q&A. McGregor declared that he was expected to face Aldo on 11 July 2015 at UFC 189 for the undisputed UFC Featherweight Championship, during the UFC's annual International Fight Week. The fight took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.[44] The UFC, confident that the fight would exceed expectations, increased the promotional budget for the event, with company president Dana White stating that "[the UFC] spent more money promoting Aldo–McGregor than any fight in UFC history."[45]
The fight against Jose Aldo was announced on 30 January 2015, at the UFC 183 and both McGregor and Aldo embarked on a 12-day world tour, during which eight cities in five countries were visited, including Aldo's home country of Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and McGregor's hometown of Dublin, Ireland. The tour began in Rio de Janeiro on 20 March, and completed in Dublin on 31 March.[46] However, on 23 June, it was reported that Aldo had suffered a rib fracture and had pulled out of the bout as a consequence.[47][48] McGregor remained on the card and was rescheduled to face Chad Mendes for the Interim Featherweight Championship.[49] The official attendance for the event, 16,019, broke the record in Nevada, whilst the gate of $7,200,000 broke the record for a mixed martial arts event in the United States.[50] Prior to the fight, McGregor's entrance song, "The Foggy Dew", was sung live by Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor.[51] McGregor won the fight via TKO, winning the UFC Interim Featherweight Championship.[52][53]
McGregor then took part in UFC's The Ultimate Fighter, in which he coached against Urijah Faber.[54] Faber's team member Ryan Hall ended up winning the competition.
Featherweight Championship unification bout
On August 10, it was announced that the event would take place on 12 December, and McGregor would face José Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship. [55] At the weigh-ins, both McGregor and Aldo achieved the weight limit of 145 pounds. [56][57] McGregor won the fight in 13 seconds into the first round and he earned the "Performance of the Night" bonus.[58][59]
2016
First UFC loss
After emphatically dispatching Aldo, McGregor continued to express a desire to move up to the lightweight division and attempt to become the first UFC dual-weight champion. On 12 January 2016, the UFC announced that Conor McGregor would face Rafael dos Anjos for the UFC Lightweight Championship on 5 March at UFC 196 (then known as UFC 197). The event would be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in McGregor's third consecutive headlining appearance at the venue.[60]
On 23 February, it was announced that dos Anjos had withdrawn from the fight after breaking his foot.[61] A variety of competitors at different weight classes were asked to step-in on short notice to face McGregor, including José Aldo, who refused the bout due to a "lack of time" to prepare for it,[62] and former UFC Lightweight Champion and featherweight Frankie Edgar, who turned the fight down due to a groin injury.[63] Instead, The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 winner, and former UFC Lightweight Championship challenger Nate Diaz stepped in to fight McGregor on 13 days' notice.[64][65] Initially assumed to be a lightweight contest, McGregor allowed the bout to be contested at 170-pounds, in the welterweight division, to avoid forcing Diaz to cut down to the 155-pound lightweight limit in such little time.[66] On 24 February 2016, a press conference was held to help promote the new main event, with both men trading insults.[67] At the Thursday pre-fight press conference on 3 March, McGregor and Diaz engaged in a brief scuffle during a face-off, after McGregor landed a strike on Diaz's lead hand.[68] The UFC 196 event, while failing to exceed the gate and attendance records of McGregor's previous bout, provided respectable numbers, with an attendance of 14,898 and a total gate of $8.1 million.[69] More significantly, the event procured a PPV buyrate of 1,317,000 buys, surpassing McGregor's own personal record of 1,200,000 for UFC 194.[70]
The fight began with McGregor shifting stances frequently, before looking to establish his signature left cross. At 3:12, during a McGregor combination, Diaz returned fire with two consecutive hooks, one a slap, a signature of Nate and his brother, Nick Diaz, termed the "Stockton Slap". McGregor avoided Diaz's jabs by slipping to his right, often before throwing his left overhand. The second round commenced with Diaz using his check right hook, attempting to keep the aggressive McGregor at distance. Despite this, McGregor had success with his bodywork, landing a left hook to Diaz's right side at 0:37. McGregor began to connect with combinations, until Diaz clinched and pushed McGregor to the fence, at 1:15. After a combination of uppercuts from McGregor at 1:48, Diaz delivered his first significant taunt of the fight, shrugging towards his opponent. At 3:47, McGregor attempted a double leg takedown, Diaz successfully sprawling to avoid the shot. Diaz, hands clasped around McGregor's neck, threatening the guillotine choke, forced McGregor onto his back after stopping McGregor from scrambling out of the position as he had during the bout with Chad Mendes at UFC 189. At 4:00, Diaz secured the mount, before firing off a volley of strikes from the top. In an effort to avoid the assault, McGregor gave up his back, allowing Diaz to punch his head into the crook of his arm, and secure a rear naked choke. McGregor tapped to the submission at 4:12 into the second round, forcing referee Herb Dean to intervene and stop the bout.[71][72][73] Both competitors were awarded "Fight of the Night" bonuses, and McGregor received the highest disclosed purse of any fighter in the history of the company, a total of $1,000,000.[74][75]
Rematch with Nate Diaz
A rematch with Diaz was scheduled for 9 July at UFC 200; however, on 19 April, the UFC announced that McGregor had been pulled from the event after failing to fulfil media obligations related to the fight.[76][77][78] In turn, the fight with McGregor was rescheduled and took place the following month, contested again at welterweight, at UFC 202.[79] McGregor won the rematch via majority decision (48–47, 47–47, and 48–47).[80] The bout was once again awarded "Fight of the Night" honours.[81] The event broke the record previously held by UFC 100 for the highest selling pay-per-view in UFC history, with 1,650,000 buys.
Two-division champion
On 27 September, it was officially announced that McGregor's next bout would be against Eddie Alvarez for the UFC Lightweight Championship on 12 November at UFC 205.[82] McGregor defeated Alvarez by second-round technical knockout to win the UFC Lightweight Championship and become the first UFC fighter to hold titles in two different weight classes simultaneously .[83]
Stripping of Featherweight Championship
On 26 November, due to his inactivity in the division, it was initially announced that McGregor had vacated the Featherweight Championship, therefore promoting José Aldo to undisputed champion.[84] McGregor's coach, however, confirmed further reports which stated that McGregor had actually been stripped of the title.[85]
2017
MMA hiatus and boxing endeavours
After winning the lightweight championship at UFC 205, McGregor announced he would take time off from the UFC to wait for the birth of his first child due in 2017.[86] McGregor spent the majority of his public appearances in early-2017 campaigning for a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.[87] After months of negotiations, the two finally came to terms on 14 June 2017 and announced the match to take place on 26 August.[88] The match ultimately ended in the 10th round with a victory by TKO for Mayweather.[14]
2018
Stripping of Lightweight Championship
After the conclusion of UFC 223 on 7 April, McGregor was stripped of the Lightweight Championship due to inactivity.[10]
Return from hiatus
On 3 August, it was announced that McGregor would return to the Octagon at UFC 229 on 6 October to challenge Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC Lightweight Championship in Las Vegas.[89] McGregor lost the fight in the fourth round via a submission.[90]
2019
On 26 March 2019, McGregor announced his retirement on social media.[91][92][93] However, Dana White viewed this announcement as a ploy to secure an ownership stake in the company,[94][95] with White later suggesting his retirement would not last and that he had been in regular contact with him and stated he would fight again in the future.[96] McGregor had previously tweeted that he wanted a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov and that he would see him in the Octagon.[97][98]
2020
After over a year away from the Octagon, McGregor is now scheduled to face Donald Cerrone in a welterweight bout on January 18, 2020 at UFC 246.[99]
Mixed martial arts fighting style
McGregor is known mostly as a striker and prefers to fight standing up, as opposed to on the ground. McGregor is left handed and primarily fights out of the southpaw stance, but often switches to an orthodox stance. He will frequently try to be the aggressor in his bouts.[100] McGregor's boxing is typically considered his best skill, with the majority of his victories coming by way of knockout or technical-knockout via punches.[101] Many pundits cite McGregor's pull-back left-handed counter as his most dangerous strike.[102][103][104]
McGregor will almost always engage in trash talk and "psychological warfare" against his opponents, which has led to comparisons with Muhammad Ali, whom McGregor cites as one of his early inspirations.[105][106][107][108] After Ali died in June 2016, McGregor opined that "nobody will ever come close to [Ali's] greatness".[109][110] McGregor has also cited Bruce Lee as an inspiration,[111] and compared himself to Lee.[112]
Professional boxing career
Background
When McGregor was 12 years old, he began boxing at Crumlin Boxing Club under two-time Olympian Phil Sutcliffe.[113] It was here where he laid the foundations to his striking ability,[114] training with fighters such as Dean Byrne and Jamie Kavanagh, both of whom went on to train at Wild Card Gym under Freddie Roach. Kavanagh recalls McGregor as "a game kind of boxer. He was very game. He loved to fight. But he was also very strong – he could seriously bang."[115] Early boxing inspirations for McGregor included American boxers Muhammad Ali and Roy Jones as well as British boxers "Prince" Naseem Hamed and Chris Eubank.[116]
McGregor would eventually become an All-Ireland champion at youth level,[117] but his attention began to turn towards other martial arts when he was about sixteen.[113] Despite this, and his family moving to West Dublin, McGregor continued boxing. He has regularly sparred at Celtic Warrior Gym, Blanchardstown, which has been home to boxers such as Gary O'Sullivan and Frank Buglioni.[118] Head coach Packie Collins, brother of Steve, commented "he comes down here and he can hold his own with world champions." He continued "I won't name names but, the last time he was up here a very good boxer of ours couldn't make head nor tail of what Conor was doing. He has what appears like a kind of chopping movement when he strikes and he doesn't use a traditional stance, so this guy just couldn't time him at all."[119]
Fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Main article: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor
During McGregor's rise in the UFC, he often made public insults towards Floyd Mayweather Jr. and pushed for a boxing match with him.[120] After rumours of a McGregor-Mayweather bout started gaining traction, Dana White initially dismissed the proposed match as a "tabloid rumor",[121] since McGregor was contracted under the UFC.[122][123] On 30 November 2016, McGregor obtained a professional boxing licence from the California State Athletic Commission.[124]
On 7 March 2017, Mayweather publicly announced he would come out of retirement for a boxing match with McGregor and urged McGregor and the UFC to come to an agreement for the proposed fight.[125][126] On 16 March 2017, Dana White backpedalled on his stance against a Mayweather–McGregor bout and said that he would not deprive McGregor from making a massive payday.[127][128] On 18 May 2017, McGregor reportedly agreed to terms with the UFC and Mayweather Jr. for a bout.[129]
On 14 June 2017, it was officially announced that McGregor would compete in his first professional boxing match against the undefeated Mayweather Jr., on 26 August 2017 at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The bout was contested at super welterweight (154 pounds) with 8 oz. gloves.[130][131] The fight was expected to be the richest in boxing history.[132]
On 24 August 2017, it was announced that Mayweather and McGregor would be facing off for the WBC Money Belt.[133] According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Mayweather would earn a guaranteed purse of $100 million and McGregor was guaranteed $30 million.[134]
In front of 14,623, far short of a sell-out, Mayweather won via TKO in the 10th round, setting the record for the longest active professional career unbeaten run, at 50. In the opening round, Mayweather, as in previous fights, started slowly to work out McGregor's tactics. In the post-fight, he revealed it was part of the game plan to let McGregor punch himself out in the early rounds. McGregor won the first round on all three judges' scorecards; the same case could have been made for the opening three rounds. McGregor was warned a few times through the fight for hitting behind the head, but no points were deducted by referee Robert Byrd. By the fourth round, McGregor began to tire and breathe heavily with his mouth open. Mayweather started to take control and landed with his right hands. For the next few rounds, McGregor came out throwing shots in the opening 30 seconds, but immediately tired, giving Mayweather enough time to carry on landing clean and winning the rounds. In round 9, McGregor had almost nothing left. His face started showing redness; although he did not look hurt, he was visibly fatigued. Two of the judges scored the round 10–8 to Mayweather. In round 10, Mayweather landed some hard shots that staggered McGregor across the ring and had him heavily slopped against the ropes. After a few unanswered punches with McGregor barely on his feet, the referee waved the fight off. The time of stoppage was 1 minute and 5 seconds of round 10.[135]
At the time of stoppage, the scorecards read 87–83, 89–82, and 89–81 all in favour of Mayweather. McGregor was praised by Dana White in the post-fight press conference for landing 111 punches of 430 thrown (26%) on Mayweather, which was more than Manny Pacquiao landed in his fight against Mayweather (billed as The Fight of the Century), and more than any of Mayweather's previous nine opponents. Mayweather was much more accurate however, landing 170 of 320 punches thrown (53%).[136]
Mayweather said of the fight, "This was my last fight. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, for sure I chose the right dance partner to dance with. Conor McGregor, you are a hell of a champion." He added, "He's a tough competitor and I think we gave the fans what they wanted to see. I owed them for the Pacquiao fight. I must come straight ahead and give the fans a show, and that's what I gave them." McGregor felt the fight was stopped prematurely, but respected the decision and admitted he was tired.[137]
Nevada State Athletic Commission announced the live gate for the event was $55,414,865.79 from 13,094 tickets sold. This was far less than the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, which grossed $72 million from a paid attendance of 16,219 in 2015, despite claims from Ellerbe and Mayweather that it did more than $80 million.[138] Sky Sports announced the fight garnered over a million PPV buys in the UK and grossed in excess of £20 million, surpassing the record set in April 2017 when Anthony Joshua defeated Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium. This also meant the fight generated more buys in the UK than Mayweather-Pacquiao.[139] On 14 December 2017, Showtime announced that the fight recorded the 2nd-highest buy rate in the United States and Canada at 4.3 million pay-per-view buys.[140]
Personal life
McGregor has sisters named Erin and Aoife.[141] He has been in a relationship with his girlfriend, Dee Devlin, since 2008.[142][143] Their first child, Conor Jack McGregor Jr., was born on 5 May 2017.[144] McGregor understands Irish and speaks it to a certain extent.[145]
McGregor often trains at the Mjölnir gym in Reykjavík, alongside fellow UFC fighter Gunnar Nelson.[146][147][148] He has stated that he does not adhere to any pre-fight rituals or superstitions because he believes them to be "a form of fear".[149][150]
On 20 September 2017, Congressman Markwayne Mullin said that McGregor would be addressing the United States Congress about legal protections for MMA fighters. McGregor is thought to be speaking on behalf of extending the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, which extends the rights of boxers to MMA.[151]
Business ventures and endorsements
McGregor has endorsement deals with Beats by Dre, Monster Energy, Reebok and Bud Light.[152][153] His endorsement deals round up to $7 million.[154][155] In early 2018, McGregor signed a deal with Burger King.[156]
August McGregor
Just ahead of his fight with Mayweather, McGregor announced a fashion partnership with tailoring brand David August; the brand is named "August McGregor" and is aimed at providing modern men's suits to millennials.[157] August had met McGregor about three years earlier, via Dana White.[158]
Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey
In September 2018, McGregor launched Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey in Ireland and the United States. McGregor worked on the whiskey, which is named after the Crumlin neighbourhood in Dublin 12, in which he grew up, for over three years prior to the launch. McGregor is the founder and owner of the company.[159] As of November 2018, the whiskey has sold so well that Tesco stores in Ireland have limited customers to two bottles per visit.[160]
In late 2018, McGregor said that the brand had sold "hundreds of thousands" of bottles since the launch, and plans were to restock in the United States and Ireland in December 2018. McGregor confirmed the brand will extend distribution to the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and Canada in 2019.[161]
Controversies
Driving
In November 2017 McGregor pleaded guilty to driving at 158 km/h in a 100 km/h zone on 31 March 2017 on the N7 Naas Road in Rathcoole, County Dublin.[162] Judge Miriam Walsh fined him €400 at Blanchardstown district court.[162]
In November 2018 McGregor pleaded guilty to driving at 154 km/h in a 100 km/h zone on 11 October 2017 on the N7 Naas Road at Blackchurch, Kill, County Kildare.[163] McGregor apologised to Judge Desmond Zaidan at Naas district court and said "I didn’t know I was going that fast".[163] The judge said he was disappointed and reminded McGregor of the number of deaths on the road and asked why did McGregor not face a more serious charge such as careless or dangerous driving.[163] He also highlighted that McGregor had 12 previous motoring convictions.[164] He accepted that McGregor was remorseful and acknowleged his apology.[163] McGregor was fined €1000 and disqualified from driving for six months.[163]
Incident at Bellator 187
On 10 November 2017, McGregor's SBG Ireland teammate Charlie Ward made his debut at Bellator 187 in Dublin against John Redmond.[165] Ward knocked out Redmond in round one,[166] and McGregor jumped the cage (he was not a licensed cornerman) to celebrate Ward's win while the fight was not yet officially declared over.[167] McGregor was separated by referee Marc Goddard, as Goddard needed to verify if the knockout was before the bell, and to ensure lock down of the cage for medical staff to assess the health of the knocked out Redmond. McGregor charged towards Goddard: while he pushed and confronted Goddard in a wild melee, he also checked on the downed Redmond and knocked him down while he was trying to get up.[168]
McGregor did a lap around the cage after he exited the cage a few minutes later, then climbed and straddled the cage apron to continue the celebration of Ward's win. He was stopped by a commissioner and McGregor, agitated, slapped the commissioner's face.[169][170] Redmond stated after the fight that Goddard intended to let the fight continue to round two, but the Mohegan Sun commission, which oversaw the event, elected to end the fight due to McGregor's behaviour in the ring.[171]
A day after the incident, the head of the commission for Bellator 187, Mike Mazzulli, the president of both the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation (MTDAR) and Association of Boxing Commissions, issued a statement, stating that "McGregor's conduct jeopardized the health and safety" of fighters who were in the cage during the Ireland event. In addition, Mr McGregor assaulted Referee Mark Goddard and a (member of) Bellator staff."[172]
Bus attack at UFC 223 Media Day
On 3 April 2018, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Artem Lobov had a minor altercation, in which Nurmagomedov cornered Lobov. Lobov is known to be close to McGregor, with whom Nurmagomedov has had altercations and trash talk exchanges.[173] The two groups have a lengthy history of insults and confrontations.
On 5 April 2018, during promotional appearances for UFC 223, McGregor and a group of about twenty others were let into the Barclays Center by credentialed members of his promotional team. They attempted to confront Nurmagomedov, who was on a bus leaving the arena with "red corner" fighters for UFC 223 on it, such as Rose Namajunas, Al Iaquinta, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Ray Borg, and Michael Chiesa.[174] McGregor ran up alongside the slowly moving bus and then ran past it to grab a metal equipment dolly, which he then threw at the bus's window, before trying to throw other objects in the vicinity.[175] Chiesa and Borg were injured by the shattered glass and sent to hospital. They were soon removed from the card on the advice of the NYSAC and the UFC's medical team.[176] Lobov was also pulled from his fight for his involvement in the dispute.
UFC president Dana White said there was a warrant out for McGregor's arrest, and the NYPD said McGregor was a person of interest.[177] White claimed McGregor told him via text message: "This had to be done."[178] "You can imagine he's going to be sued beyond belief," White said, and denied suggestions that the violence was a stunt intended to generate interest in the UFC.[179] McGregor and others involved initially fled the Barclays Center after the incident.[180] He and a fellow accused turned themselves in that night: he was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief.[181][182] He was further charged with menacing and reckless endangerment at his arraignment and released on $50,000 bail until 14 June 2018.[183][184] Under the bail conditions negotiated by his then attorney, Jim Walden, and set by the judge, McGregor was allowed to travel without restriction.[185][186] On 12 April 2018, McGregor hired lawyer Bruce Mafeo of Cozen O'Connor to represent him in this matter.[187] McGregor pleaded no contest to a count of disorderly conduct and was ordered to perform five days of community service and attend anger management classes.[188] On 12 September 2018, Chiesa announced a lawsuit against McGregor, saying that he "experienced pain, suffering and a loss of enjoyment of life" as a result of the attack.[189]
Incident at UFC 229
Following the fight at UFC 229 on 6 October 2018, Khabib Nurmagomedov jumped out of the cage and charged towards McGregor's training partner Dillon Danis. Soon afterwards, McGregor and Abubakar Nurmagomedov, Khabib's cousin, also attempted to exit the octagon, but a scuffle broke out after McGregor punched Abubakar, who then punched him back.[190] Two of Nurmagomedov's cornermen retaliated: Esed Emiragaev and Zubaira Tukhugov,[191] who was scheduled to fight on October 27, 2018 at UFC Fight Night: Volkan vs. Smith against Artem Lobov, the McGregor team member who was confronted by Nurmagomedov in April 2018. Nurmagomedov's payment for the fight was withheld by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) as a result, pending an investigation into his actions. Nurmagomedov appeared at the post-fight interview and apologised to the NSAC, while also saying that, "You cannot talk about religion. You cannot talk about nation. Guys, you cannot talk about these things. This is very important to me."[192]
The NSAC filed a formal complaint against both McGregor and Nurmagomedov[193] and on 24 October, the NSAC voted to approve a motion to release half of Nurmagomedov's $2 million fight payout immediately. Both Nurmagomedov and McGregor received indefinite bans, at least until the official hearing, which took place in December 2018.[194] On 29 January 2019, the NSAC announced a six-month suspension for McGregor, (retroactive to 6 October 2018) and a $50,000 fine. He became eligible to compete again on 6 April 2019.[195]
Robbery arrest
On 11 March 2019, McGregor was arrested outside of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida after an altercation in which McGregor was alleged to have taken a man's phone and smashed it on the ground. McGregor was arrested and charged with strong-armed robbery and criminal mischief.[196] McGregor was held in custody for several hours before being released on a $5,000 bond. On 14 March 2019, news surfaced that McGregor was also facing a civil lawsuit from the fan involved in the incident.[197] On 8 April, the civil lawsuit against McGregor was dismissed.[198] On 13 May, it was revealed that the criminal charges against McGregor were also dismissed after there were inconsistencies found in the victim's testimony.[199]
Dublin pub assault
On 15 August 2019, TMZ Sports published a video that appeared to show McGregor punching a man at The Marble Arch Pub in Dublin.[200] The incident happened on 6 April and was originally reported by Irish media, although without the video that showed the attack. The Gardaí stated in April that they had opened an investigation.[201] McGregor was charged with assault and first appeared in court on 11 October 2019.[202] On 1 November, he pleaded guilty to the assault and was fined €1,000.[203]
McGregor was the former Cage Warriors featherweight and lightweight champion. In 2015, at UFC 194, he defeated José Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship via knockout 13 seconds into the first round, which is the fastest victory in UFC title fight history.[12] Upon defeating Eddie Alvarez for the UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 205, McGregor became the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight divisions simultaneously.[13]
In his debut boxing match, he was defeated by Floyd Mayweather Jr.[14] He is the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) draw in MMA history, having headlined five out of the six highest-selling UFC pay-per-view events.[15] His headline bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 drew 2.4 million PPV buys, the most ever for an MMA event.[16] His boxing match with Mayweather drew 4.3 million PPV buys in North America, the second most in history
Early life
Conor Anthony McGregor[18] was born in Crumlin, Dublin on 14 July 1988, the son of Tony and Margaret McGregor.[1] He was raised in Crumlin and attended a Gaelscoil and Gaelcholáiste at both primary and at secondary level in Coláiste de hÍde in Tallaght, where he also developed his passion for sport, playing association football. In his youth, he played football for Lourdes Celtic Football Club.[19] At the age of 12, McGregor also began boxing at Crumlin Boxing Club.[20][21]
In 2006, McGregor moved with his family to Lucan, Dublin, attending Gaelcholáiste Coláiste Cois Life. Following that, he commenced a plumbing apprenticeship.[22] While in Lucan, he met future UFC fighter Tom Egan and they soon started training mixed martial arts (MMA) together.[23]
Amateur mixed martial arts career
On 17 February 2007, at the age of 18, McGregor made his mixed martial arts debut in an amateur fight against Kieran Campbell for the Irish Ring of Truth promotion in Dublin. He won via technical knockout (TKO) in the first round. Following the fight, he turned professional and was signed by the Irish Cage of Truth promotion. In 2008, McGregor began training at the Straight Blast Gym (SBG) in Dublin under John Kavanagh.[24]
Professional mixed martial arts career
Early career (2008–2013)
On 9 March 2008, McGregor had his first professional MMA bout, as a lightweight, defeating Gary Morris with a second-round TKO. After McGregor won his second fight against Mo Taylor, he made his featherweight debut in a loss via submission against Artemij Sitenkov. After a victory at featherweight in his next bout against Stephen Bailey, McGregor contemplated a different career path before his mother contacted his coach John Kavanagh and reinvigorated him to continue pursuing mixed martial arts.[25]
McGregor then won his next fight, also at featherweight, against Connor Dillon, before moving back to lightweight for a fight against Joseph Duffy, in which he received his second professional loss after submitting to an arm-triangle choke. Following this, during 2011 and 2012, McGregor went on an eight-fight winning streak,[26] during which he won both the CWFC Featherweight and Lightweight championships, making him the first European professional mixed martial artist to hold titles in two divisions simultaneously. In February 2013, UFC president Dana White made a trip to Dublin, Ireland to receive a Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage from Trinity College and was inundated with requests to sign McGregor to the UFC. After a meeting with McGregor, and talking with UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, White offered him a contract days later.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (2013–present)
2013
UFC debut
In February 2013, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced that they had signed McGregor to a multi-fight contract.[27] In joining, McGregor became only the second fighter from Ireland to compete for the company, following fellow SBG team member Tom Egan.
On 6 April 2013, McGregor made his UFC debut against Marcus Brimage at UFC on Fuel TV: Mousasi vs. Latifi.[28] Mc Gregor won the fight on round one.[29] The win also earned McGregor his first "Knockout of the Night" award.[30]
McGregor was expected to face Andy Ogle on 17 August 2013 at UFC Fight Night 26, but Ogle pulled out of the bout citing an injury and was replaced by Max Holloway.[31] McGregor won the fight by unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, and 30–26). Following the bout with Holloway, an MRI scan revealed that McGregor had torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during the bout and would require surgery, keeping him out of action for up to ten months.[32]
2014
Return after injury
McGregor was expected to face Cole Miller on 19 July 2014 at UFC Fight Night 46 in his comeback bout after recovering from his ACL injury.[33] However, Miller pulled out of the bout citing a thumb injury and was replaced by Diego Brandão.[34] McGregor fought Brandão in front of a loud, rowdy crowd of 9,500 at The O2 in his hometown of Dublin, Ireland. The fight was officially halted by referee Leon Roberts at 4:05 of the first round. The win earned McGregor his first "Performance of the Night" award.[35]
Prior to his next bout, McGregor met with Lorenzo Fertitta and signed a new multi-fight contract with the UFC. McGregor next faced Dustin Poirier on 27 September 2014 at UFC 178.[36] Despite McGregor landing 9 significant strikes to Poirier's 10, he managed to secure a victory early on in the first round, by pressuring Poirier onto his back foot, before exploding with a left hook behind Poirier's ear, forcing referee Herb Dean to step in. The finish officially came at 1:46 into the first round.[37][38] This marked Poirier's first UFC loss via KO/TKO, and earned McGregor his second straight "Performance of the Night" award.[39]
2015
Championship pursuits
McGregor faced Dennis Siver on 18 January 2015 at UFC Fight Night 59. [40][41] McGregor won the fight via TKO on the second round.[42] The victory also earned McGregor his third straight "Performance of the Night" award
Interim Featherweight Championship bout
The highly anticipated bout with Aldo was announced on 30 January 2015, at the UFC 183 Q&A. McGregor declared that he was expected to face Aldo on 11 July 2015 at UFC 189 for the undisputed UFC Featherweight Championship, during the UFC's annual International Fight Week. The fight took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.[44] The UFC, confident that the fight would exceed expectations, increased the promotional budget for the event, with company president Dana White stating that "[the UFC] spent more money promoting Aldo–McGregor than any fight in UFC history."[45]
The fight against Jose Aldo was announced on 30 January 2015, at the UFC 183 and both McGregor and Aldo embarked on a 12-day world tour, during which eight cities in five countries were visited, including Aldo's home country of Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and McGregor's hometown of Dublin, Ireland. The tour began in Rio de Janeiro on 20 March, and completed in Dublin on 31 March.[46] However, on 23 June, it was reported that Aldo had suffered a rib fracture and had pulled out of the bout as a consequence.[47][48] McGregor remained on the card and was rescheduled to face Chad Mendes for the Interim Featherweight Championship.[49] The official attendance for the event, 16,019, broke the record in Nevada, whilst the gate of $7,200,000 broke the record for a mixed martial arts event in the United States.[50] Prior to the fight, McGregor's entrance song, "The Foggy Dew", was sung live by Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor.[51] McGregor won the fight via TKO, winning the UFC Interim Featherweight Championship.[52][53]
McGregor then took part in UFC's The Ultimate Fighter, in which he coached against Urijah Faber.[54] Faber's team member Ryan Hall ended up winning the competition.
Featherweight Championship unification bout
On August 10, it was announced that the event would take place on 12 December, and McGregor would face José Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship. [55] At the weigh-ins, both McGregor and Aldo achieved the weight limit of 145 pounds. [56][57] McGregor won the fight in 13 seconds into the first round and he earned the "Performance of the Night" bonus.[58][59]
2016
First UFC loss
After emphatically dispatching Aldo, McGregor continued to express a desire to move up to the lightweight division and attempt to become the first UFC dual-weight champion. On 12 January 2016, the UFC announced that Conor McGregor would face Rafael dos Anjos for the UFC Lightweight Championship on 5 March at UFC 196 (then known as UFC 197). The event would be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, in McGregor's third consecutive headlining appearance at the venue.[60]
On 23 February, it was announced that dos Anjos had withdrawn from the fight after breaking his foot.[61] A variety of competitors at different weight classes were asked to step-in on short notice to face McGregor, including José Aldo, who refused the bout due to a "lack of time" to prepare for it,[62] and former UFC Lightweight Champion and featherweight Frankie Edgar, who turned the fight down due to a groin injury.[63] Instead, The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 winner, and former UFC Lightweight Championship challenger Nate Diaz stepped in to fight McGregor on 13 days' notice.[64][65] Initially assumed to be a lightweight contest, McGregor allowed the bout to be contested at 170-pounds, in the welterweight division, to avoid forcing Diaz to cut down to the 155-pound lightweight limit in such little time.[66] On 24 February 2016, a press conference was held to help promote the new main event, with both men trading insults.[67] At the Thursday pre-fight press conference on 3 March, McGregor and Diaz engaged in a brief scuffle during a face-off, after McGregor landed a strike on Diaz's lead hand.[68] The UFC 196 event, while failing to exceed the gate and attendance records of McGregor's previous bout, provided respectable numbers, with an attendance of 14,898 and a total gate of $8.1 million.[69] More significantly, the event procured a PPV buyrate of 1,317,000 buys, surpassing McGregor's own personal record of 1,200,000 for UFC 194.[70]
The fight began with McGregor shifting stances frequently, before looking to establish his signature left cross. At 3:12, during a McGregor combination, Diaz returned fire with two consecutive hooks, one a slap, a signature of Nate and his brother, Nick Diaz, termed the "Stockton Slap". McGregor avoided Diaz's jabs by slipping to his right, often before throwing his left overhand. The second round commenced with Diaz using his check right hook, attempting to keep the aggressive McGregor at distance. Despite this, McGregor had success with his bodywork, landing a left hook to Diaz's right side at 0:37. McGregor began to connect with combinations, until Diaz clinched and pushed McGregor to the fence, at 1:15. After a combination of uppercuts from McGregor at 1:48, Diaz delivered his first significant taunt of the fight, shrugging towards his opponent. At 3:47, McGregor attempted a double leg takedown, Diaz successfully sprawling to avoid the shot. Diaz, hands clasped around McGregor's neck, threatening the guillotine choke, forced McGregor onto his back after stopping McGregor from scrambling out of the position as he had during the bout with Chad Mendes at UFC 189. At 4:00, Diaz secured the mount, before firing off a volley of strikes from the top. In an effort to avoid the assault, McGregor gave up his back, allowing Diaz to punch his head into the crook of his arm, and secure a rear naked choke. McGregor tapped to the submission at 4:12 into the second round, forcing referee Herb Dean to intervene and stop the bout.[71][72][73] Both competitors were awarded "Fight of the Night" bonuses, and McGregor received the highest disclosed purse of any fighter in the history of the company, a total of $1,000,000.[74][75]
Rematch with Nate Diaz
A rematch with Diaz was scheduled for 9 July at UFC 200; however, on 19 April, the UFC announced that McGregor had been pulled from the event after failing to fulfil media obligations related to the fight.[76][77][78] In turn, the fight with McGregor was rescheduled and took place the following month, contested again at welterweight, at UFC 202.[79] McGregor won the rematch via majority decision (48–47, 47–47, and 48–47).[80] The bout was once again awarded "Fight of the Night" honours.[81] The event broke the record previously held by UFC 100 for the highest selling pay-per-view in UFC history, with 1,650,000 buys.
Two-division champion
On 27 September, it was officially announced that McGregor's next bout would be against Eddie Alvarez for the UFC Lightweight Championship on 12 November at UFC 205.[82] McGregor defeated Alvarez by second-round technical knockout to win the UFC Lightweight Championship and become the first UFC fighter to hold titles in two different weight classes simultaneously .[83]
Stripping of Featherweight Championship
On 26 November, due to his inactivity in the division, it was initially announced that McGregor had vacated the Featherweight Championship, therefore promoting José Aldo to undisputed champion.[84] McGregor's coach, however, confirmed further reports which stated that McGregor had actually been stripped of the title.[85]
2017
MMA hiatus and boxing endeavours
After winning the lightweight championship at UFC 205, McGregor announced he would take time off from the UFC to wait for the birth of his first child due in 2017.[86] McGregor spent the majority of his public appearances in early-2017 campaigning for a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather.[87] After months of negotiations, the two finally came to terms on 14 June 2017 and announced the match to take place on 26 August.[88] The match ultimately ended in the 10th round with a victory by TKO for Mayweather.[14]
2018
Stripping of Lightweight Championship
After the conclusion of UFC 223 on 7 April, McGregor was stripped of the Lightweight Championship due to inactivity.[10]
Return from hiatus
On 3 August, it was announced that McGregor would return to the Octagon at UFC 229 on 6 October to challenge Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC Lightweight Championship in Las Vegas.[89] McGregor lost the fight in the fourth round via a submission.[90]
2019
On 26 March 2019, McGregor announced his retirement on social media.[91][92][93] However, Dana White viewed this announcement as a ploy to secure an ownership stake in the company,[94][95] with White later suggesting his retirement would not last and that he had been in regular contact with him and stated he would fight again in the future.[96] McGregor had previously tweeted that he wanted a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov and that he would see him in the Octagon.[97][98]
2020
After over a year away from the Octagon, McGregor is now scheduled to face Donald Cerrone in a welterweight bout on January 18, 2020 at UFC 246.[99]
Mixed martial arts fighting style
McGregor is known mostly as a striker and prefers to fight standing up, as opposed to on the ground. McGregor is left handed and primarily fights out of the southpaw stance, but often switches to an orthodox stance. He will frequently try to be the aggressor in his bouts.[100] McGregor's boxing is typically considered his best skill, with the majority of his victories coming by way of knockout or technical-knockout via punches.[101] Many pundits cite McGregor's pull-back left-handed counter as his most dangerous strike.[102][103][104]
McGregor will almost always engage in trash talk and "psychological warfare" against his opponents, which has led to comparisons with Muhammad Ali, whom McGregor cites as one of his early inspirations.[105][106][107][108] After Ali died in June 2016, McGregor opined that "nobody will ever come close to [Ali's] greatness".[109][110] McGregor has also cited Bruce Lee as an inspiration,[111] and compared himself to Lee.[112]
Professional boxing career
Background
When McGregor was 12 years old, he began boxing at Crumlin Boxing Club under two-time Olympian Phil Sutcliffe.[113] It was here where he laid the foundations to his striking ability,[114] training with fighters such as Dean Byrne and Jamie Kavanagh, both of whom went on to train at Wild Card Gym under Freddie Roach. Kavanagh recalls McGregor as "a game kind of boxer. He was very game. He loved to fight. But he was also very strong – he could seriously bang."[115] Early boxing inspirations for McGregor included American boxers Muhammad Ali and Roy Jones as well as British boxers "Prince" Naseem Hamed and Chris Eubank.[116]
McGregor would eventually become an All-Ireland champion at youth level,[117] but his attention began to turn towards other martial arts when he was about sixteen.[113] Despite this, and his family moving to West Dublin, McGregor continued boxing. He has regularly sparred at Celtic Warrior Gym, Blanchardstown, which has been home to boxers such as Gary O'Sullivan and Frank Buglioni.[118] Head coach Packie Collins, brother of Steve, commented "he comes down here and he can hold his own with world champions." He continued "I won't name names but, the last time he was up here a very good boxer of ours couldn't make head nor tail of what Conor was doing. He has what appears like a kind of chopping movement when he strikes and he doesn't use a traditional stance, so this guy just couldn't time him at all."[119]
Fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Main article: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor
During McGregor's rise in the UFC, he often made public insults towards Floyd Mayweather Jr. and pushed for a boxing match with him.[120] After rumours of a McGregor-Mayweather bout started gaining traction, Dana White initially dismissed the proposed match as a "tabloid rumor",[121] since McGregor was contracted under the UFC.[122][123] On 30 November 2016, McGregor obtained a professional boxing licence from the California State Athletic Commission.[124]
On 7 March 2017, Mayweather publicly announced he would come out of retirement for a boxing match with McGregor and urged McGregor and the UFC to come to an agreement for the proposed fight.[125][126] On 16 March 2017, Dana White backpedalled on his stance against a Mayweather–McGregor bout and said that he would not deprive McGregor from making a massive payday.[127][128] On 18 May 2017, McGregor reportedly agreed to terms with the UFC and Mayweather Jr. for a bout.[129]
On 14 June 2017, it was officially announced that McGregor would compete in his first professional boxing match against the undefeated Mayweather Jr., on 26 August 2017 at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The bout was contested at super welterweight (154 pounds) with 8 oz. gloves.[130][131] The fight was expected to be the richest in boxing history.[132]
On 24 August 2017, it was announced that Mayweather and McGregor would be facing off for the WBC Money Belt.[133] According to the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Mayweather would earn a guaranteed purse of $100 million and McGregor was guaranteed $30 million.[134]
In front of 14,623, far short of a sell-out, Mayweather won via TKO in the 10th round, setting the record for the longest active professional career unbeaten run, at 50. In the opening round, Mayweather, as in previous fights, started slowly to work out McGregor's tactics. In the post-fight, he revealed it was part of the game plan to let McGregor punch himself out in the early rounds. McGregor won the first round on all three judges' scorecards; the same case could have been made for the opening three rounds. McGregor was warned a few times through the fight for hitting behind the head, but no points were deducted by referee Robert Byrd. By the fourth round, McGregor began to tire and breathe heavily with his mouth open. Mayweather started to take control and landed with his right hands. For the next few rounds, McGregor came out throwing shots in the opening 30 seconds, but immediately tired, giving Mayweather enough time to carry on landing clean and winning the rounds. In round 9, McGregor had almost nothing left. His face started showing redness; although he did not look hurt, he was visibly fatigued. Two of the judges scored the round 10–8 to Mayweather. In round 10, Mayweather landed some hard shots that staggered McGregor across the ring and had him heavily slopped against the ropes. After a few unanswered punches with McGregor barely on his feet, the referee waved the fight off. The time of stoppage was 1 minute and 5 seconds of round 10.[135]
At the time of stoppage, the scorecards read 87–83, 89–82, and 89–81 all in favour of Mayweather. McGregor was praised by Dana White in the post-fight press conference for landing 111 punches of 430 thrown (26%) on Mayweather, which was more than Manny Pacquiao landed in his fight against Mayweather (billed as The Fight of the Century), and more than any of Mayweather's previous nine opponents. Mayweather was much more accurate however, landing 170 of 320 punches thrown (53%).[136]
Mayweather said of the fight, "This was my last fight. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, for sure I chose the right dance partner to dance with. Conor McGregor, you are a hell of a champion." He added, "He's a tough competitor and I think we gave the fans what they wanted to see. I owed them for the Pacquiao fight. I must come straight ahead and give the fans a show, and that's what I gave them." McGregor felt the fight was stopped prematurely, but respected the decision and admitted he was tired.[137]
Nevada State Athletic Commission announced the live gate for the event was $55,414,865.79 from 13,094 tickets sold. This was far less than the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, which grossed $72 million from a paid attendance of 16,219 in 2015, despite claims from Ellerbe and Mayweather that it did more than $80 million.[138] Sky Sports announced the fight garnered over a million PPV buys in the UK and grossed in excess of £20 million, surpassing the record set in April 2017 when Anthony Joshua defeated Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium. This also meant the fight generated more buys in the UK than Mayweather-Pacquiao.[139] On 14 December 2017, Showtime announced that the fight recorded the 2nd-highest buy rate in the United States and Canada at 4.3 million pay-per-view buys.[140]
Personal life
McGregor has sisters named Erin and Aoife.[141] He has been in a relationship with his girlfriend, Dee Devlin, since 2008.[142][143] Their first child, Conor Jack McGregor Jr., was born on 5 May 2017.[144] McGregor understands Irish and speaks it to a certain extent.[145]
McGregor often trains at the Mjölnir gym in Reykjavík, alongside fellow UFC fighter Gunnar Nelson.[146][147][148] He has stated that he does not adhere to any pre-fight rituals or superstitions because he believes them to be "a form of fear".[149][150]
On 20 September 2017, Congressman Markwayne Mullin said that McGregor would be addressing the United States Congress about legal protections for MMA fighters. McGregor is thought to be speaking on behalf of extending the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, which extends the rights of boxers to MMA.[151]
Business ventures and endorsements
McGregor has endorsement deals with Beats by Dre, Monster Energy, Reebok and Bud Light.[152][153] His endorsement deals round up to $7 million.[154][155] In early 2018, McGregor signed a deal with Burger King.[156]
August McGregor
Just ahead of his fight with Mayweather, McGregor announced a fashion partnership with tailoring brand David August; the brand is named "August McGregor" and is aimed at providing modern men's suits to millennials.[157] August had met McGregor about three years earlier, via Dana White.[158]
Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey
In September 2018, McGregor launched Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey in Ireland and the United States. McGregor worked on the whiskey, which is named after the Crumlin neighbourhood in Dublin 12, in which he grew up, for over three years prior to the launch. McGregor is the founder and owner of the company.[159] As of November 2018, the whiskey has sold so well that Tesco stores in Ireland have limited customers to two bottles per visit.[160]
In late 2018, McGregor said that the brand had sold "hundreds of thousands" of bottles since the launch, and plans were to restock in the United States and Ireland in December 2018. McGregor confirmed the brand will extend distribution to the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and Canada in 2019.[161]
Controversies
Driving
In November 2017 McGregor pleaded guilty to driving at 158 km/h in a 100 km/h zone on 31 March 2017 on the N7 Naas Road in Rathcoole, County Dublin.[162] Judge Miriam Walsh fined him €400 at Blanchardstown district court.[162]
In November 2018 McGregor pleaded guilty to driving at 154 km/h in a 100 km/h zone on 11 October 2017 on the N7 Naas Road at Blackchurch, Kill, County Kildare.[163] McGregor apologised to Judge Desmond Zaidan at Naas district court and said "I didn’t know I was going that fast".[163] The judge said he was disappointed and reminded McGregor of the number of deaths on the road and asked why did McGregor not face a more serious charge such as careless or dangerous driving.[163] He also highlighted that McGregor had 12 previous motoring convictions.[164] He accepted that McGregor was remorseful and acknowleged his apology.[163] McGregor was fined €1000 and disqualified from driving for six months.[163]
Incident at Bellator 187
On 10 November 2017, McGregor's SBG Ireland teammate Charlie Ward made his debut at Bellator 187 in Dublin against John Redmond.[165] Ward knocked out Redmond in round one,[166] and McGregor jumped the cage (he was not a licensed cornerman) to celebrate Ward's win while the fight was not yet officially declared over.[167] McGregor was separated by referee Marc Goddard, as Goddard needed to verify if the knockout was before the bell, and to ensure lock down of the cage for medical staff to assess the health of the knocked out Redmond. McGregor charged towards Goddard: while he pushed and confronted Goddard in a wild melee, he also checked on the downed Redmond and knocked him down while he was trying to get up.[168]
McGregor did a lap around the cage after he exited the cage a few minutes later, then climbed and straddled the cage apron to continue the celebration of Ward's win. He was stopped by a commissioner and McGregor, agitated, slapped the commissioner's face.[169][170] Redmond stated after the fight that Goddard intended to let the fight continue to round two, but the Mohegan Sun commission, which oversaw the event, elected to end the fight due to McGregor's behaviour in the ring.[171]
A day after the incident, the head of the commission for Bellator 187, Mike Mazzulli, the president of both the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation (MTDAR) and Association of Boxing Commissions, issued a statement, stating that "McGregor's conduct jeopardized the health and safety" of fighters who were in the cage during the Ireland event. In addition, Mr McGregor assaulted Referee Mark Goddard and a (member of) Bellator staff."[172]
Bus attack at UFC 223 Media Day
On 3 April 2018, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Artem Lobov had a minor altercation, in which Nurmagomedov cornered Lobov. Lobov is known to be close to McGregor, with whom Nurmagomedov has had altercations and trash talk exchanges.[173] The two groups have a lengthy history of insults and confrontations.
On 5 April 2018, during promotional appearances for UFC 223, McGregor and a group of about twenty others were let into the Barclays Center by credentialed members of his promotional team. They attempted to confront Nurmagomedov, who was on a bus leaving the arena with "red corner" fighters for UFC 223 on it, such as Rose Namajunas, Al Iaquinta, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Ray Borg, and Michael Chiesa.[174] McGregor ran up alongside the slowly moving bus and then ran past it to grab a metal equipment dolly, which he then threw at the bus's window, before trying to throw other objects in the vicinity.[175] Chiesa and Borg were injured by the shattered glass and sent to hospital. They were soon removed from the card on the advice of the NYSAC and the UFC's medical team.[176] Lobov was also pulled from his fight for his involvement in the dispute.
UFC president Dana White said there was a warrant out for McGregor's arrest, and the NYPD said McGregor was a person of interest.[177] White claimed McGregor told him via text message: "This had to be done."[178] "You can imagine he's going to be sued beyond belief," White said, and denied suggestions that the violence was a stunt intended to generate interest in the UFC.[179] McGregor and others involved initially fled the Barclays Center after the incident.[180] He and a fellow accused turned themselves in that night: he was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief.[181][182] He was further charged with menacing and reckless endangerment at his arraignment and released on $50,000 bail until 14 June 2018.[183][184] Under the bail conditions negotiated by his then attorney, Jim Walden, and set by the judge, McGregor was allowed to travel without restriction.[185][186] On 12 April 2018, McGregor hired lawyer Bruce Mafeo of Cozen O'Connor to represent him in this matter.[187] McGregor pleaded no contest to a count of disorderly conduct and was ordered to perform five days of community service and attend anger management classes.[188] On 12 September 2018, Chiesa announced a lawsuit against McGregor, saying that he "experienced pain, suffering and a loss of enjoyment of life" as a result of the attack.[189]
Incident at UFC 229
Following the fight at UFC 229 on 6 October 2018, Khabib Nurmagomedov jumped out of the cage and charged towards McGregor's training partner Dillon Danis. Soon afterwards, McGregor and Abubakar Nurmagomedov, Khabib's cousin, also attempted to exit the octagon, but a scuffle broke out after McGregor punched Abubakar, who then punched him back.[190] Two of Nurmagomedov's cornermen retaliated: Esed Emiragaev and Zubaira Tukhugov,[191] who was scheduled to fight on October 27, 2018 at UFC Fight Night: Volkan vs. Smith against Artem Lobov, the McGregor team member who was confronted by Nurmagomedov in April 2018. Nurmagomedov's payment for the fight was withheld by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) as a result, pending an investigation into his actions. Nurmagomedov appeared at the post-fight interview and apologised to the NSAC, while also saying that, "You cannot talk about religion. You cannot talk about nation. Guys, you cannot talk about these things. This is very important to me."[192]
The NSAC filed a formal complaint against both McGregor and Nurmagomedov[193] and on 24 October, the NSAC voted to approve a motion to release half of Nurmagomedov's $2 million fight payout immediately. Both Nurmagomedov and McGregor received indefinite bans, at least until the official hearing, which took place in December 2018.[194] On 29 January 2019, the NSAC announced a six-month suspension for McGregor, (retroactive to 6 October 2018) and a $50,000 fine. He became eligible to compete again on 6 April 2019.[195]
Robbery arrest
On 11 March 2019, McGregor was arrested outside of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida after an altercation in which McGregor was alleged to have taken a man's phone and smashed it on the ground. McGregor was arrested and charged with strong-armed robbery and criminal mischief.[196] McGregor was held in custody for several hours before being released on a $5,000 bond. On 14 March 2019, news surfaced that McGregor was also facing a civil lawsuit from the fan involved in the incident.[197] On 8 April, the civil lawsuit against McGregor was dismissed.[198] On 13 May, it was revealed that the criminal charges against McGregor were also dismissed after there were inconsistencies found in the victim's testimony.[199]
Dublin pub assault
On 15 August 2019, TMZ Sports published a video that appeared to show McGregor punching a man at The Marble Arch Pub in Dublin.[200] The incident happened on 6 April and was originally reported by Irish media, although without the video that showed the attack. The Gardaí stated in April that they had opened an investigation.[201] McGregor was charged with assault and first appeared in court on 11 October 2019.[202] On 1 November, he pleaded guilty to the assault and was fined €1,000.[203]
