Conor McGregor is back in the news, and once again it’s for something outside the MMA world.
McGregor is under investigation for allegedly attacking a woman on board his yacht in Ibiza in Spain in July 2022, according to a report from Spain’s Majorca Daily Bulletin.
According to the report, the alleged victim, who said she knew McGregor because they’re from the same neighborhood in Dublin, was on McGregor’s yacht after his birthday party at Ocean Beach Club in Ibiza on July 16.
After partying at the club’s VIP area with McGregor and those with him, she said in her statement she went to his yacht with him and others. Then, she alleged, he started to insult her appearance, then attacked her with a kick to the midsection, punched her and said he was going to drown her.
“All his behaviour changed at that moment,” the alleged victim said in her statement to the Garda, Ireland’s police service, according to the report. “It was as if he was possessed. I knew that I had to get off the boat because I thought that he was going to kill me. … We have mutual friends and I have met him numerous times. I can’t believe what he did to me. He is a criminal. I think he would have killed me if I hadn’t got off the yacht.”
The woman said in her statement to police that she jumped from the yacht, which was near the island of Formentera at the time, to flee McGregor. Eventually, a Red Cross boat took her back to shore.
A separate report from Spain’s Ultima Hora said the alleged victim initially said McGregor attacked her, but when Spain’s Civil Guard police questioned her, she declined to identify McGregor as her assailant and said she just wanted to return to Ireland.
Once back home, however, she filed a complaint with police in Ireland a few days later. Now the alleged incident is an active investigation.
Ireland’s laws likely will keep his name from being officially tied to the investigation – which has happened before. In late 2018, he reportedly was under investigation for a sexual assault that simply labeled an “Irish sports star” until the New York Times named him several months later.
“Mr. McGregor is steadfast in his denial of all the accusations made by a guest on his boat,” a McGregor representative told MMA Mania.
McGregor is far from a stranger to outside-the-cage legal troubles. In March 2022, he was arrested in Dublin and detained for six traffic violations, including two for dangerous driving. But that seems to be a tame entry on his list.
Along with the sexual assault accusation, other publicly known McGregor incidents include his conviction for an assault of an older man in a Dublin pub, an arrest in Miami after he took and allegedly damaged a man’s phone, and his arrest for throwing a dolly through the window of a bus carrying various fighters and cornermen before UFC 223.
McGregor has not fought since a July 2021 TKO loss to Dustin Poirier, which was his second straight knockout loss to him. McGregor broke his leg in the fight. He has been rehabbing since then and his return regularly is teased. His longtime coach John Kavanagh said he expects McGregor to fight in 2023.
The former simultaneous lightweight and featherweight champion – he never defended either belt and was stripped of both for inactivity – has lost three of his past four fights. His only win in that stretch was a quick knockout of Donald Cerrone three years ago, which was part of Cerrone’s six straight losses to close his career before retirement.
McGregor remains one of the most popular and bankable athletes in the world and is the UFC’s biggest draw. But in recent years, he’s become known more for his issues outside the cage than in it.
