Yacht assault claims, £7millIion lawsuit & ‘brutal’ rape payout – inside shocking life of ‘dangerous’ Conor McGregor
THEY call him The Notorious but fighter Conor McGregor might be better named The Infamous – as his reputation is in tatters.
The flash MMA star – once the world’s highest paid athlete – has been discredited as a cocaine-snorting sex attacker after being found liable for “brutally” raping a woman in a Dublin hotel.
Within days of being ordered to pay out £206,000 in damages to hairdresser Nikita Hand, brands began to distance themselves from the shamed sportsman.
First video game giant IO Interactive severed their connection with him, removing a character based on McGregor in the Hitman World of Assassination.
Then drinks brands linked to the fighter were withdrawn from shelves.
Proximo Spirits, which paid McGregor an estimated £128million for his Proper No 12 whiskey brand in 2021, has said it will no longer use his name or image on bottles.
Tesco has taken stock off the shelves and other firms like Spar, Londis and CostCutter have also said they will no longer sell the whiskey.
It’s understood stores are also blocking the sale of McGregor’s Forged Irish Stout, first sold in his bar, The Black Forge, in Dublin.
The ex-UFC champion is also mired in controversy amid a string of sexual assault allegations and questions over attacks on the homes of women who previously alleged he assaulted them.
He is also weeks away from a £7million lawsuit with ex-best mate and fellow MMA fighter Artem Lobov who claims he cut him out of a deal when he sold his whiskey brand.
Whether he can ever regain his reputation hinges on his appeal against last week’s civil court decision – and whether the case will embolden any previous accuser to follow Miss Hand in making a private claim.
McGregor has built a career on his tough man image and his rise to fame is legendary.
He first burst onto the scene in 2008 and became the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) sportsman to hold two belts in two weight classes – featherweight and lightweight.
His fights have broken pay-for-view records and, outside MMA, McGregor fought Floyd Mayweather in boxing in 2017, lasting until the 10th round in an event that 5.3m fans paid to watch.
Forever boastful, McGregor once claimed to be worth almost a billion pounds but his fortune is believed to be closer to around £158million.
The dad-of-four lives a lavish lifestyle in a £2.5m Dublin mansion with fiance Dee Devlin, 37, and is far from humble about his riches, driving around in Lamborghinis, Bentleys and Rolls Royces. He also had a watch collection worth around £1million.
He made his acting debut earlier this year in the movie ‘Roadhouse’ starring alongside Hollywood star Jake Gyllenhaal.
At the time he claimed to be the highest-paid, first-time actor in history – beating ‘The Rock’ Dwayne Johnson’s £3.7million record when he starred in The Scorpion King in 2002.
McGregor’s years of living the high life may well be over as brands moved quickly to disassociate from him following calls from Rape Crisis to boycott booze brands and merchandise linked to the fighter.
Jury verdict
A civil jury last week ruled that he raped and “battered” Nikita Hand in a hotel penthouse in 2018.
She gave harrowing evidence which described how she was choked and ‘kept thinking I would die’.
McGregor admitted he took cocaine on the night and claimed the two had consensual sex.
But Nikita, 35, was vindicated when a jury of eight women and two men took just over six hours to find in her favour.
The case followed a six-year battle for Nikita after Ireland’s director of public prosecutions decided in 2020 not to bring criminal charges against McGregor due to a lack of evidence and no reasonable prospect of conviction.
During the case, it emerged a gang of balaclava-clad men smashed their way into Nikita’s home in June this year and stabbed her boyfriend while her daughter slept in the next room.
In court, her lawyer John Gordon said he was not accusing McGregor of the break in, but added: “We do make the claim that this was not an untargeted attack, (it) arose from supporters of the first named defendant (McGregor).”
This is not the first time McGregor has faced legal claims.
Samantha Murphy, 40, claimed she had to jump off the side of a luxury yacht to escape after an alleged attack by McGregor in 2022, breaking her arm in the fall.
She alleged she was assaulted during celebrations in Ibiza for the fighter’s 34th birthday, claiming he turned violent quickly becoming “possessed.”
The world needs to know he’s dangerous
McGregor attack accuser Francesco Facchinetti
She launched a civil case but discontinued it in January 2023.
At the time, a statement from McGregor said he was “steadfast in his denial of all the accusations made by a guest on his boat”.
In September 2020, he was detained and questioned by cops on the French island of Corsica for an alleged indecent exposure and sexual assault in a bar. He spent two days in custody but police later said there wasn’t enough evidence to bring a case.
In June last year, he was accused of forcing a woman into that VIP bathroom at the NBA finals in Miami and assaulting her.
Cases scrapped
Video obtained by showbusiness website TMZ showed him leading her to the men’s bathroom that night before his security guards blocked the door.
McGregor’s attorney said the footage undermined her allegation that he and his security guards pushed her into the bathroom and sources close to the fighter accused her of “only being interested in his money.”
That case was dropped in October last year.
McGregor has said he will appeal last week’s findings against him but he could end up in financial hot water if past accusers follow her lead in bringing private prosecutions against the star.
As well as paying Nikita damages, it’s likely he will be liable for her costs, as well as footing his own legal bill – estimated to be around £667,000 in total.
To add to his headaches, the MMA champ is expected to be called to the High Court in January in a legal row with his former best pal Artem Lobov.
The Russian claims he came up with the idea of Proper Twelve whiskey and was promised a five per cent stake for his help – but alleges he got nothing when McGregor flogged the brand.
At this rate, the sportsman will spend more time in court than the Octagon, the UFC’s offical ring.
McGregor’s most consistent brushes with the law have been over driving offences.
Driving offences
In July this year, he narrowly escaped jail after running a red light, weaving through traffic and nearly causing an accident in his Bentley GT convertible in March 2022.
He was given a five month suspended sentence, fined around £4000 and given a two-year driving ban.
McGregor also pleaded guilty to speeding offences and was given fines in 2017 and 2018.
He was embroiled in a bizarre bus incident with Russian rival Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018 outside a UFC event in New York.
The fighter and his entourage were caught on film attacking a bus with Nurmagomedov onboard, throwing a trolley and steel rods at the window. He was arrested by NYPD and paid damages as well as serving five days community service.
A year later he reached an out-of-court settlement with a fan whose phone he smashed as they took a picture of him in Miami Beach.
McGregor was branded “dangerous” by a well-known Italian DJ and TV star Francesco Facchinetti who accused him of breaking his nose outside a hotel in Rome in 2021.
He later said: “The world needs to know the fact he is dangerous.”
The presenter said he would be pressing charges but it appears not to have been the case.
It’s unclear how the case was resolved.
Despite last week’s damning court decision and sex assault accusation, McGregor’s fiance Dee has stood fast in her loyalty to him.
Where to get help
If you've been the victim of rape or sexual assault there is help available
One in four women have been sexually assaulted or raped, according to Rape Crisis England and Wales.
You are not alone.
If you are in imminent danger please call 999, otherwise the organisation suggests that you get somewhere that feels safe, see if someone you trust can be with you and talk to someone.
If you feel you can’t talk to a family member or friend you can call the Rape Crisis helpline on 0808 500 2222.
He issued a statement insisting that everything that happened with Nikita “was consensual” but that he had “regret” about cheating on his wife.
On a social media post he wrote: “I should never have stepped out on the woman I love the most in the world. That’s all on me.
“I have instructed my legal team to appeal the decision.”
Dee today responded with a statement of her own making it clear she would stand by her man because they have already worked through the scandal.
She wrote on an Instagram story: “Conor and I dealt with these issues privately many years ago, as should be done in a relationship and we have come out stronger than ever.”
Posting a picture of herself with McGregor and two of their kids, she added: “We have four beautiful children now whose smiling faces and happy hearts are a testament to who he is and who we are!”