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Conor McGregor's long list of misdemeanors

April 6, 2018

Conor McGregor has been charged by American police following a backstage rampage in New York. But this isn't the first time the Irish MMA fighter has got himself in to trouble. DW takes a look at a chequered past.

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Conor McGregor beim Wiegen
Image: Picture alliance/AP Photo/J.Cortez

Alleged attack on a bus in New York

The latest incident came on Thursday at the Barclays Center after a press conference ahead of UFC 223. Raging at the decision to strip him of his belts due to inactivity, the Irish fighter allegedly threw a hand truck [used to transport boxes] at a bus containing a number of fellow UFC fighters. Before that, police believe he threw bins and was prevented from throwing a barricade at a bus. Two fighters were injured in the chaos and have been withdrawn from the undercard.

McGregor expressed his anger at UFC president Dana White for the removal of his belts in a profanity-laden tweet which included the words: "You'll strip me of nothing." After McGregor turned himself in to police he was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief. 

Attempting to fight a referee at Bellator

McGregor was also in hot water last November after clambering in to the ring and attempting to fight the referee at an MMA event in Dublin. After watching his teammate Charlie Ward knock out his opponent John Redmond, McGregor leapt in to celebrate with Ward. Referee Marc Goddard tried to separate the pair but was shoved by McGregor as he tended to Redmond. Despite initially claiming the referee "made a horrendous decision in trying to pick an unconscious fighter up off the floor", he later apologized.

USA Las Vegas Boxkampf Floyd Mayweather Jr. -  Conor McGregor
Conor McGregor's fight with Floyd Mayweather was mired in controversyImage: Reuters/S. Marcus

Accusations of racism

McGregor's words have been as influential as his fists in his rise to public prominence and the 29-year-old has been accused of racism several times in his career. Perhaps the most high-profile came in his cross-code fight with Floyd Mayweather. In one of the pre-fight press conferences, McGregor told Mayweather to "dance for me, boy" among other dubious utterances that left the American fighter fuming.

"He totally disrespected black women. He called black people monkeys," said Mayweather. "Then he spoke disrespectfully to my mother and my daughter. There are certain levels you don’t stoop to and certain levels you just don’t go to. I love everybody from all walks of life."

Homophobic slur

Mayweather's words were proved to be somewhat hollow when he called McGregor a "faggot" on stage but the Irish fighter wasn't on the steadiest ground to criticize his opponent. Soon after, McGregor was caught on camera using the exact same insult repeatedly while watching a fight with fellow MMA athlete Artem Lobov.

"I meant no disrespect to nobody of the LGBT community," he said after the footage emerged. "You’d swear I was screaming at two people of the same sex kissing. I campaigned, when we were trying to get same sex marriage legalised, I was campaigning for that. It is another one where things just get blown out and they love to just, any chance they get they love to throw me under the bus. It is what it is. I’ll just say sorry for what I said and that’s it and try to move on from it."

German steroid dude

But McGregor's prejudices seem to extend still further, with German fighter Dennis Siver the target of his wrath back in 2014. "My thoughts on Dennis Siver are: He’s a midget German steroid head," McGregor said. "That’s my thoughts on him, so I don’t have any thoughts other than that." McGregor won the subsequent bout in the second round.