Conor McGregor fights Max Holloway at UFC 329 in Las Vegas on July 11. It will be his first appearance in the octagon in nearly five years, and it arrives at a moment when his name is generating more headlines for what happens outside the cage than inside it. A civil jury found him liable for rape. Two appeals courts upheld that finding. A television chat show appearance reignited the debate. And multiple more women have made formal accusations against him across two countries and separate incidents.
Nikita Hand Trial, Verdict, Charges and What Happened After
In November 2024, a civil jury at Dublin’s High Court found the Irish UFC fighter liable for sexually assaulting Nikita Hand at the Beacon Hotel on December 9, 2018. Hand and a friend had attended a work Christmas party that night before being picked up by McGregor and taken to a penthouse suite. She testified that McGregor choked her three times during the assault, applying a hold while saying “Now know how [opponent] felt in the Octagon”. She said she feared she would not survive.
Medical evidence presented during the two-week trial was detailed and graphic. Dr. Daniel Kane, a consultant gynaecologist and forensic examiner, told the court that Hand was “shaking and crying” when he examined her and described bruising across her face, neck, arms, fingers, thighs, legs, and lower back, a 9cm scratch on her left breast, and the surgical removal of a tampon that had been forced internally during the assault. A paramedic told the court she had rarely seen a patient “so bruised”. The jury awarded Hand €248,603 in damages. After the verdict, Hand said she felt “justice has been served” and encouraged other survivors not to stay silent.
McGregor, who responded “no comment” approximately 100 times during his original police interview, denied wrongdoing throughout the trial and maintained the encounter was consensual. He posted on X after the verdict confirming his intention to appeal.
In July 2025, three judges at Ireland’s Court of Appeal rejected all five grounds of his appeal, with Justice Brian O’Moore dismissing the case “in its entirety.” McGregor was also ordered to pay approximately £1.1 million in legal costs. In December 2025, the Supreme Court of Ireland turned down his application for a further appeal, finding that while the trial judge had made a procedural error, McGregor had received a fair trial overall.
Jimmy Fallon Controversy
McGregor appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on June 16, 2026, as part of publicity surrounding UFC 329. Fallon opened the segment by calling McGregor “my man” and reminisced about a previous night out together. The interview stayed on the subject of McGregor’s fighting comeback, with no reference at all to the civil rape verdict or the appeal. McGregor told Fallon: “You have to be calm; you have to be composed. You have to trust your training and your discipline. There’s no hiding in the Octagon.”
The response online was immediate. YouTube comment sections on the segment filled with viewers calling the booking “disgusting,” “absolutely vile,” and “pathetic”. On X, several users pointed to the fact that Fallon is himself a father of two daughters, framing the interview as tone-deaf. Irish media urged viewers to contact NBC directly.
Actress Christina Ricci shared an Instagram post on June 22 that read: “Shame on you Jimmy for platforming this human garbage. We need to stop pretending like rape is OK.” Her post spread quickly and moved the story from sports coverage into entertainment news.
Fallon made no public statement in response to any of it. Observers also noted that he did not post any promotional clips from the McGregor segment to his social media channels, which was unusual given how heavily celebrity appearances are typically marketed. One commenter on his Instagram wrote: “Almost like… it shouldn’t have happened.” NBC has not commented.
Sexual Assault Accusations
The Hand case was the most prominent but not the only sexual assault allegation McGregor has faced. In the same year as the Hand incident, 2018, a second Irish woman filed a complaint with Gardaí alleging McGregor sexually assaulted her in a car outside a Dublin bar. No charges were pursued.
In July 2022, an Irish woman named Samantha Murphy alleged McGregor attacked her during his birthday celebration aboard his yacht off Ibiza, Spain. She told police McGregor verbally insulted her appearance, then kicked her in the stomach and punched her in the chin without warning.
Murphy said he jumped on top of her and threatened to drown her, telling her: “I’m going to drown you, who do you think you are?” She said she had no option but to jump off the yacht into the sea and was pulled out by a Red Cross rescue boat. McGregor’s team denied everything. Murphy filed both civil and criminal complaints with Gardaí.
While those proceedings were active, a brick was thrown through her window, and on January 19, 2023, arsonists burned her car outside her home in Drimnagh, Dublin. Gardaí confirmed the investigation and stated no arrests had been made. In February 2023, Murphy dropped her lawsuit without explanation, with no settlement confirmed or denied by either side.
In June 2023, a 49-year-old woman alleged McGregor sexually assaulted her in a men’s restroom at the Kaseya Center in Miami during Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Her attorney’s demand letters stated that arena security helped separate her from her group before the alleged assault took place. She alleged McGregor forcibly kissed her, attempted to perform oral sex, and attempted sodomy before she elbowed him and escaped, leaving her purse behind.
A Miami Police investigation was opened within 48 hours. Florida state prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges in October 2023, citing insufficient evidence. She filed a civil lawsuit in January 2025 also naming the Miami Heat and Kaseya Center for alleged security failures. In December 2025, she voluntarily dismissed the case with prejudice.
Assaults and Arrests
McGregor’s legal record outside the sexual assault cases is extensive. In April 2018, he led a group into the Barclays Center loading bay in Brooklyn, New York, and threw a metal hand trolley through the window of a bus carrying rival fighters ahead of UFC 223, injuring two people with broken glass. He was charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief, initially facing up to seven years in prison, but pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in a deal with prosecutors.
In March 2019, he was arrested in Miami Beach after stomping on a fan’s phone outside the Fontainebleau Hotel and walking away with the shattered remains. Surveillance footage captured the full incident. He was charged with felony strong-armed robbery and misdemeanor criminal mischief and posted $125,000 bail. He settled a civil lawsuit with the victim out of court, and prosecutors subsequently dropped all criminal charges.
Also in 2019, McGregor pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to assaulting a man at the Marble Arch pub after the man declined a shot of McGregor’s Proper No. Twelve whiskey. He was fined €1,000. Following his submission loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 in October 2018, McGregor struck one of Khabib’s cornermen in the cage during the post-fight brawl. The Nevada Athletic Commission 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 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the first time since breaking his tibia and fibula against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021, nearly five years ago to the date. His opponent is Max Holloway in a five-round welterweight main event during International Fight Week. The two fought once before, in August 2013 at featherweight, with McGregor winning by decision while competing through a torn ACL. McGregor goes in at 22-6, enters as a heavy betting underdog, and has gone 1-3 in his last four fights.
The UFC promotion will frame it as a comeback story. For a large portion of the audience watching, the context is somewhat harder to ignore than it was the last time he headlined a card. Nikita Hand’s legal battle ran for seven years, through two appeal courts, and ended with every ruling going against McGregor.
