Conor McGregor is facing renewed scrutiny after reportedly being caught driving in the US while serving an active driving ban in his home country of Ireland.
The former two-division UFC champion has racked up more than 20 traffic offenses in Ireland, including an arrest following a verbal confrontation with Gardaí.
McGregor’s career has also been overshadowed by legal troubles after a civil court jury found him liable for assaulting Nikita Hand over a 2018 incident.
Conor McGregor was pictured behind the wheel of a car in the US despite his driving license being suspended in Ireland.
The UFC fighter appeared to have made the slip-up when he shared the now-deleted photos on his personal Instagram page on July 8, just as he was preparing to fight Max Holloway in Las Vegas, according to the Irish Independent.
In one image, he was seated in the driver’s seat of a large black vehicle alongside his wife, Dee Devlin, near an airport runway with a private jet visible in the background.
Alongside the photos, McGregor wrote about completing the first day of promotions for his fight with Holloway while thanking various sports outlets and the Dana White-led UFC for the event’s “smoothness.”
He also wrote that it was time to “collect my family at the airport, thank you, God! Reunited!”
Inside Conor McGregor’s Long History Of Traffic Offenses
4When he’s in the US, McGregor lives in Nevada, which generally requires an international driver’s license to remain valid in its country of issue before it can legally be used there.
However, it remains unclear whether he actually drove the vehicle, as there is no video evidence. Earlier photos in the carousel showed him riding in the back of the same black vehicle before reuniting with his family at the airport.
The 38-year-old MMA star was handed a two-year driving disqualification on July 31, 2024, along with a five-month suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to dangerous and careless driving charges in Dublin.
A law enforcement witness told the court officers had to engage in a high-speed pursuit reaching about 160 km/h before catching up with his vehicle.
Judge David McHugh criticized McGregor’s repeated traffic violations, describing them as “persistent, prolonged and deliberate.”
In addition to a €5,000 fine, the judge imposed the two-year driving ban. McGregor had previously been caught traveling at 154 km/h in a 100 km/h zone in 2018, resulting in a €1,000 fine and a six-month driving ban.
Nikita Hand Case Continues To Shadow Conor McGregor
4Beyond his traffic-related offenses, McGregor has also faced legal scrutiny following Nikita Hand’s civil lawsuit accusing him of rape and assault in a Dublin hotel in 2018.
A High Court jury found him civilly liable for assaulting Hand and rejected his claim that their encounter was consensual, according to the BBC.
Hand was awarded $271,742.84 in damages for the injuries she sustained, while McGregor was also ordered to pay roughly €1.3 million in legal costs.
He later appealed, citing fresh evidence from an affidavit by one of Hand’s former neighbors, but his legal team withdrew that ground before the hearing.
Conor McGregor’s UFC Return Ended As Soon As It Began
4McGregor’s return to competition hasn’t gone much better.
The former UFC champion returned to the Octagon earlier this month at UFC 329 in Las Vegas after spending five years away from the sport following the broken left leg he suffered in his 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier.
However, his comeback lasted just 69 seconds after he suffered a knee injury.
McGregor attempted a flying left roundhouse kick moments after the opening bell but landed awkwardly on his right knee.
“I mean, I was expecting at least a one-round war,” UFC president Dana White said afterward, per The Guardian. “Who knew what Conor was capable of as far as cardio, whatever else, after a five-year layoff, and there you go. We’re assuming a blown ACL [anterior cruciate ligament]. I’m no doctor, but that’s what I figured when I saw it, and doctors think the same thing too.”
McGregor Declared Himself ‘Innocent’ Before UFC Return
4Although he entered the fight as the underdog following his lengthy layoff, Holloway mocked McGregor afterward, saying he had expected the Irishman to put up more of a challenge.
“What can I say? I had him weak in the knees, I guess. So much hype. We’ve got to run it back one more time. For it to end like this s-cks,” Holloway said.
Criticism also resurfaced over whether McGregor should have been allowed to return to the sport following the Nikita Hand case. Before UFC 329, however, McGregor maintained that he was innocent.
“I am an innocent man,” he said during UFC 329 media day. “I’ll stand for my innocence until the day I go out. This is still a situation where I fight. There’s a reason it didn’t go where it went and went to a civil trial. It is what it is. It stings deep. I continue to fight.”