Conor McGregor’s time in the UFC has been the best of times and the worst of times, although the glory days feel like a distant memory.
McGregor went from being on welfare to joining the UFC in April 2013, and he talked a big game from the moment he stepped foot in the octagon. Fight fans overwhelmingly loved him. And in the ensuing three years after his debut, McGregor quickly rose to a level of stardom not quite achieved before in mixed martial arts, which peaked when he became the first fighter in UFC history to simultaneously hold two championship belts.
Since that momentous occasion, McGregor’s career has played out as a sort of cautionary tale on how a rags-to-riches story could go wrong, bottoming out with the UFC’s biggest star becoming an adjudicated sexual abuser. Public support for McGregor has waned to the point even his own country of Ireland has largely turned its back on him.
Below is a timeline of key events that have transpired between the highest and lowest points of his career.
***
Conor McGregor became the first UFC fighter to win titles in two divisions at UFC 205. (USA TODAY Sports)
Already the promotion’s featherweight champion, McGregor reaches the pinnacle of the sport with a brilliant performance against then-lightweight champ Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in the promotion’s first visit to Madison Square Garden. McGregor puts on a striking clinic to dominate Alvarez before winning by second-round TKO. It’s a historic victory for McGregor, who becomes the first UFC fighter to hold two belts at the same time with the addition of the 155-pound title.
McGregor’s champ-champ status lasts all of two weeks as the UFC announces on a Fight Night broadcast that McGregor is stripped of the featherweight title. The move is part of a shakeup that includes Jose Aldo, whom McGregor knocked out to claim the title in December 2015, being promoted from interim to undisputed champ and a new UFC 206 headliner between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis for the interim 145-pound title.
After McGregor sealed his status as the biggest star in the UFC, he got the attention of Floyd Mayweather, and the two fighters – with the UFC’s blessing – finalized a deal to meet in a crossover boxing match. Following a wild four-city promotional tour, which included accusations of McGregor being a racist, McGregor lasts nearly 10 rounds before Mayweather finishes him by 10th-round TKO. Mayweather vs. McGregor is the second-highest purchased pay-per-view ever at 4.3 million buys, and McGregor reportedly earns north of $100 million from “The Money Fight.”
Dana White announces at a fight-week news conference that McGregor is stripped of the lightweight title ahead of the UFC 223 main event, sealing the fact that McGregor never defended either of the UFC two belts he’d won. McGregor responds in a crude post on Twitter.
Conor McGregor looks on next to his lawyer, Jim Walden (R) and John Arlia (L), during his arraignment at the Kings County (Brooklyn) Criminal Court on April 6, 2018 in New York. (Photo by Mary Altaffer/Pool via Getty Images)
Looking for revenge against Khabib Nurmagomedov, who two days earlier confronted his then-good friend Artem Lobov, McGregor goes berserk on a bus carrying Nurmagomedov and other UFC 223 fighters. The incident took place after McGregor and members of his team entered the bowels of Barclays Center, which hosted the aforementioned press event, where fighters boarded busses to return to the host hotel. Once inside, McGregor incited a chaos that included him throwing a dolly through a bus window, causing injuries to Ray Borg and Michael Chiesa (Borg withdrew from UFC 223 afterward), and immediately fled the scene. McGregor was arrested by the New York Police Department and charged with multiple counts of assault after turning himself in the next day. McGregor eventually reached a plea deal in the case and served his sentence of community service at at churches.
A very personal feud between McGregor and Nurmagomedov reaches its climax at UFC 229 where Nurmagomedov retains his lightweight title by submitting McGregor in the fourth round. Immediately afterward, Nurmagomedov jumps the cage and goes after McGregor’s team, inciting an all-out brawl at T-Mobile Arena.
Conor McGregor’s mug shot in Florida. (Miami Beach Police Department)
McGregor is arrested in Miami Beach, Fla., after being caught on video grabbing a fan’s cell phone and throwing it to the ground. Charges against McGregor were dropped two months later, and the man, whose phone was destroyed in the incident, dropped his lawsuit after reaching a settlement with McGregor.
Initially identified only as “famous Irish sports star” by news outlets in Ireland, the New York Times reports that McGregor is being investigated over an alleged sexual assault that took place four months earlier inside of a Dublin hotel room. The night before the Times’ report, McGregor took to Twitter to announce he was retiring from MMA.
TMZ releases a video of McGregor punching an elderly man at a pub in Dublin after the man declined McGregor’s offer of a free shot of his Proper Twelve whiskey. When the man turns away, McGregor is seen sucker-punching while he’s not looking. A few months later, McGregor was issued a small fine and avoided jail time after pleading guilty to assault.
After revealing McGregor’s name in a report of an alleged sexual assault earlier in the year, the New York Times reports that McGregor is under investigation for a second sexual assault allegation in Ireland. The Times report includes the detail that a woman in her 20s was sexually assaulted, allegedly by McGregor, outside a Dublin pub while in a vehicle.
Conor McGregor moves in to finish Donald Cerrone during UFC 246 at T-Mobile Arena. (Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports)
McGregor returns from a 15-month layoff and wins his first fight in more than three years when he beats Donald Cerrone by TKO in 40 seconds at UFC 246.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, McGregor says he has “decided to retire from fighting” for a third time on Twitter.
Reports surface that McGregor is arrested and questioned in Corsica for an “attempted sexual assault.” The case is later dropped by French officials, who cite not enough evidence to proceed with charges.
McGregor, appearing gentlemanly in the buildup, returns to the cage for a rematch with Dustin Poirier and is finished by second-round TKO after being dropped with punches.
Conor McGregor is carried out of the arena on a stretcher after injuring his ankle in the first round of his lightweight bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264. (Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY Sports)
Six months after losing to Poirier, McGregor returns for the trilogy and loses by injury TKO after suffering a gruesome broken leg in the final seconds of the first round. McGregor undergoes surgery the next day and is out of action indefinitely while he recovers.
McGregor is arrested and has his Bentley seized for “dangerous driving” in Dublin. A judge later called the incident “appalling,” although McGregor avoided jail time.
A report surfaces that McGregor is under investigation for allegedly attacking a woman on board his yacht in Ibiza in Spain in July 2022. The alleged victim said in her statement “it was as if he was possessed” and believed in the moment that McGregor would kill her.
While attending Game 4 of the NBA Finals, a promotional stunt goes wrong when the man wearing the Miami Heat mascot costume is injured by McGregor, who punches him twice. The man was hospitalized but not seriously hurt.
Conor McGregor during Game 4 of the NBA Finals in June 2023. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images)
At the same NBA Finals game where the mascot stunt went wrong, a woman accuses McGregor of “violently” raping her inside of a bathroom at Kaseya Center. McGregor was arrested and charged, but the charges were later dropped after prosecutors concluded there was “insufficient evidence” and “contradicting and/or no corroborating witnesses” to prove beyond a reasonable that McGregor assaulted the woman.
McGregor, who had exited the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s drug-testing pool while recovering from his broken leg, reenters the program as the UFC announces that it will end its partnership with USADA. In a statement, USADA indicates at the center of the split is a disagreement with the UFC over a potential McGregor exception to return to the cage without having to pass two tests in six months. The UFC later accuses USADA of using McGregor to advance a “false narrative.”
After booking his highly anticipated return to the cage against Michael Chandler at UFC 303, a press conference to promote the event in Dublin is suddenly called off hours beforehand. It’s initially announced to have been postponed for unknown reasons.
Ten days after the press conference cancellation, White announces the fight between McGregor and Chandler is officially off after McGregor suffered an injury. McGregor later reveals he broke his pinky toe in training, which forced him to withdraw.
Conor McGregor arrives at court, on the day he attends a civil trial on allegations of sexual assault, in Dublin, Ireland November 19, 2024. (REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo)
A 12-day civil trial concludes with a jury finding McGregor liable for sexually assaulting Nikita Hand in a Dublin hotel after a night of partying in December 2018, the incident that was initially attributed to “famous Irish sports star.” The jury’s verdict includes damages of approximately $250,000 awarded to Hand. In the immediate aftermath of the jury’s decision, McGregor is dropped as the spokesman for Proper Twelve whiskey, among other backlash to his business dealings. McGregor vows to appeal the loss in court.
