Conor McGregor fights Max Holloway at UFC 329 in Las Vegas on July 11. It will likely be his first look within the octagon in almost 5 years, and it arrives at a second when his identify is producing extra headlines for what occurs outdoors the cage than inside it. A civil jury discovered him responsible for rape. Two appeals courts upheld that discovering. A tv chat present look reignited the controversy. And a number of extra girls have made formal accusations towards him throughout two nations and separate incidents.
Nikita Hand Trial, Verdict, Expenses and What Occurred After
In November 2024, a civil jury at Dublin’s Excessive Courtroom discovered the Irish UFC fighter responsible for sexually assaulting Nikita Hand on the Beacon Lodge on December 9, 2018. Hand and a good friend had attended a piece Christmas occasion that evening earlier than being picked up by McGregor and brought to a penthouse suite. She testified that McGregor choked her 3 times through the assault, making use of a maintain whereas saying “Now know the way [opponent] felt within the Octagon”. She mentioned she feared she wouldn’t survive.
Medical proof introduced through the two-week trial was detailed and graphic. Dr. Daniel Kane, a marketing consultant gynaecologist and forensic examiner, instructed the courtroom that Hand was “shaking and crying” when he examined her and described bruising throughout her face, neck, arms, fingers, thighs, legs, and decrease again, a 9cm scratch on her left breast, and the surgical removing of a tampon that had been pressured internally through the assault. A paramedic instructed the courtroom she had hardly ever seen a affected person “so bruised”. The jury awarded Hand €248,603 in damages. After the decision, Hand mentioned she felt “justice has been served” and inspired different survivors to not keep silent.
McGregor, who responded “no remark” roughly 100 occasions throughout his authentic police interview, denied wrongdoing all through the trial and maintained the encounter was consensual. He posted on X after the decision confirming his intention to enchantment.
In July 2025, three judges at Eire’s Courtroom of Attraction rejected all 5 grounds of his enchantment, with Justice Brian O’Moore dismissing the case “in its entirety.” McGregor was additionally ordered to pay roughly £1.1 million in authorized prices. In December 2025, the Supreme Courtroom of Eire turned down his software for an extra appeal, discovering that whereas the trial decide had made a procedural error, McGregor had obtained a good trial total.
Jimmy Fallon Controversy
McGregor appeared on The Tonight Present Starring Jimmy Fallon on June 16, 2026, as a part of publicity surrounding UFC 329. Fallon opened the section by calling McGregor “my man” and reminisced a few earlier evening out collectively. The interview stayed with regards to McGregor’s preventing comeback, with no reference in any respect to the civil rape verdict or the enchantment. McGregor instructed Fallon: “It’s important to be calm; it’s a must to be composed. It’s important to belief your coaching and your self-discipline. There’s no hiding within the Octagon.”
The response on-line was fast. YouTube remark sections on the section stuffed with viewers calling the reserving “disgusting,” “completely vile,” and “pathetic”. On X, a number of customers pointed to the truth that Fallon is himself a father of two daughters, framing the interview as tone-deaf. Irish media urged viewers to contact NBC immediately.
Actress Christina Ricci shared an Instagram submit on June 22 that learn: “Disgrace on you Jimmy for platforming this human rubbish. We have to cease pretending like rape is OK.” Her submit unfold shortly and moved the story from sports activities protection into leisure information.
Fallon made no public assertion in response to any of it. Observers additionally famous that he didn’t submit any promotional clips from the McGregor section to his social media channels, which was uncommon given how closely movie star appearances are usually marketed. One commenter on his Instagram wrote: “Nearly like… it shouldn’t have occurred.” NBC has not commented.
Sexual Assault Accusations
The Hand case was probably the most distinguished however not the one sexual assault allegation McGregor has confronted. In the identical yr because the Hand incident, 2018, a second Irish lady filed a criticism with Gardaí alleging McGregor sexually assaulted her in a automotive outdoors a Dublin bar. No costs had been pursued.
In July 2022, an Irish lady named Samantha Murphy alleged McGregor attacked her throughout his birthday celebration aboard his yacht off Ibiza, Spain. She instructed police McGregor verbally insulted her look, then kicked her within the abdomen and punched her within the chin with out warning.
Murphy mentioned he jumped on high of her and threatened to drown her, telling her: “I’m going to drown you, who do you suppose you might be?” She mentioned she had no possibility however to leap off the yacht into the ocean and was pulled out by a Pink Cross rescue boat. McGregor’s workforce denied every part. Murphy filed each civil and prison complaints with Gardaí.
Whereas these proceedings had been lively, a brick was thrown via her window, and on January 19, 2023, arsonists burned her automotive outdoors her residence in Drimnagh, Dublin. Gardaí confirmed the investigation and acknowledged no arrests had been made. In February 2023, Murphy dropped her lawsuit with out rationalization, with no settlement confirmed or denied by both aspect.
In June 2023, a 49-year-old lady alleged McGregor sexually assaulted her in a males’s restroom on the Kaseya Heart in Miami throughout Sport 4 of the NBA Finals. Her legal professional’s demand letters acknowledged that enviornment safety helped separate her from her group earlier than the alleged assault came about. She alleged McGregor forcibly kissed her, tried to carry out oral intercourse, and tried sodomy earlier than she elbowed him and escaped, leaving her purse behind.
A Miami Police investigation was opened inside 48 hours. Florida state prosecutors declined to pursue prison costs in October 2023, citing inadequate proof. She filed a civil lawsuit in January 2025 additionally naming the Miami Warmth and Kaseya Heart for alleged safety failures. In December 2025, she voluntarily dismissed the case with prejudice.
Assaults and Arrests
McGregor’s authorized document outdoors the sexual assault instances is intensive. In April 2018, he led a bunch into the Barclays Heart loading bay in Brooklyn, New York, and threw a metallic hand trolley via the window of a bus carrying rival fighters forward of UFC 223, injuring two folks with damaged glass. He was charged with three counts of assault and one rely of prison mischief, initially going through as much as seven years in jail, however pleaded responsible to disorderly conduct in a cope with prosecutors.
In March 2019, he was arrested in Miami Seaside after stomping on a fan’s cellphone outdoors the Fontainebleau Lodge and strolling away with the shattered stays. Surveillance footage captured the total incident. He was charged with felony strong-armed theft and misdemeanor prison mischief and posted $125,000 bail. He settled a civil lawsuit with the sufferer out of courtroom, and prosecutors subsequently dropped all prison costs.
Additionally in 2019, McGregor pleaded responsible at Dublin District Courtroom to assaulting a person on the Marble Arch pub after the person declined a shot of McGregor’s Correct No. Twelve whiskey. He was fined €1,000. Following his submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018, McGregor struck one in all Khabib’s cornermen within the cage through the post-fight brawl. The Nevada Athletic Fee fined him $50,000 and suspended him for six months.
UFC 329
Three days from now, on July 11, 2026, McGregor steps into the octagon on the T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas for the primary time since breaking his tibia and fibula towards Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021, almost 5 years in the past to the date. His opponent is Max Holloway in a five-round welterweight important occasion throughout Worldwide Struggle Week. The 2 fought as soon as earlier than, in August 2013 at featherweight, with McGregor profitable by choice whereas competing via a torn ACL. McGregor goes in at 22-6, enters as a heavy betting underdog, and has gone 1-3 in his final 4 fights.
The UFC promotion will body it as a comeback story. For a big portion of the viewers watching, the context is considerably tougher to disregard than it was the final time he headlined a card. Nikita Hand’s authorized battle ran for seven years, via two enchantment courts, and ended with each ruling going towards McGregor.
