{"id":847787,"date":"2026-08-08T08:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/847787\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:54:16","slug":"conor-mcgregor-donald-trump-and-the-political-arena-of-mma-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/847787\/","title":{"rendered":"Conor McGregor, Donald Trump and the political arena of MMA \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days before Conor McGregor<\/a>\u2019s big comeback fight in Las Vegas<\/a> last month, his coach John Kavanagh cast the encounter as \u201ca bit of a Rocky III moment\u201d for the mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar who was found civilly liable for rape<\/a> two years ago. <\/p>\n

In the 1982 hit boxing movie, Sylvester Stallone<\/a>\u2019s Rocky character returns to the ring in triumph after battling to regain the \u201ceye of the tiger\u201d edge he lost to fame and complacency. But there was nothing romantic about McGregor\u2019s disastrous return<\/a> to cage-fighting after a five-year hiatus, which ended abruptly with boos from the boisterous crowd. He suffered a technical knockout defeat to Max Holloway after a crippling leg injury ended the bout in 69 seconds. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis came out of nowhere. I am beyond dark here. I can only describe it as hell,\u201d he said on social media. <\/p>\n

McGregor\u2019s reputation is in shreds because of the November 2024 ruling of the High Court in the case taken by Dublin woman Nikita Hand. She was awarded nearly \u20ac250,000 in damages after a jury found that she had been raped in 2018 by McGregor in the penthouse suite of the Beacon Hotel in Sandyford, Dublin. McGregor, who denied the claims, now carries a message to \u201cPray EVERYDAY!\u201d on his X profile, citing God, family, country and truth. <\/p>\n

The High Court verdict was upheld by the Court of Appeal<\/a> and, later, the Supreme Court rejected his bid for a further appeal. <\/p>\n

It was a drastic self-inflicted fall for a man described by Forbes business magazine as one of the world\u2019s highest-paid athletes in 2021 \u2013 behind footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo \u2013 with salary\/winnings of $22 million and endorsements said to be worth some $158 million. <\/p>\n

The ruling led local and international business partners to spurn McGregor \u2013 and not a single Oireachtas member or county council endorsed his quixotic bid to contest the 2025 presidential election with his claims that \u201cIreland is potentially losing its Irishness\u201d.<\/p>\n

But none of that has deterred him in the trash-talking world of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) combat sports nor dimmed him in the eyes of Donald Trump\u2019s White House and Trump family members. <\/p>\n

The US president invited McGregor into the Oval Office for St Patrick\u2019s Day 2025 \u2013 four months after the court verdict \u2013 and defence secretary Pete Hegseth brought him to the Pentagon. In high summer in Dublin only a few weeks ago, US ambassador to Ireland Ed Walsh dropped by McGregor\u2019s Drimnagh pub<\/a>, the Black Forge Inn.<\/p>\n

\"NikitaNikita Hand, who was awarded nearly \u20ac250,000 in damages after a jury found that Conor McGregor raped her in a Dublin hotel. Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA \"USUS president Donald Trump with Conor McGregor in the White House on St Patrick’s Day last year, four months after McGregor was found civilly liable for rape. Photograph: X\/POTUS <\/p>\n

McGregor himself is an adviser to and investor in a company called Mixed Martial Arts Group (MMA.Inc), which provides gyms and other sport participants with digital platforms and business tools. When Donald Trump jnr joined MMA.Inc last September, McGregor welcomed the president\u2019s son to the advisory board. \u201cDon is a globally recognised business leader with a deep passion for martial arts and for the coaches and small business owners who are backbone of this sport,\u201d McGregor said, striking a distinct tone of familiarity. <\/p>\n

UFC also places McGregor in proximity to the organisation\u2019s long-time president and chief executive, Dana White, a close Trump acolyte who spoke up for him at the pre-election Republican National Conventions in 2016, 2020 and 2024. White\u2019s seat on the board of Facebook\u2019s $1.59 trillion owner Meta \u2013 alongside Irish tech billionaire Patrick Collison<\/a> \u2013 is a mark of how far the once-fringe sport has travelled to achieve mass appeal and political potency. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irish entrepreneur Patrick Collison donated $7m to group opposing California wealth taxOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Three decades have passed since the late John McCain, the Republican senator who became a bitter rival of Trump, branded MMA as \u201chuman cockfighting\u201d. MMA was once banned in more than half of the United States. Now it is seen as nothing less than the sporting branch of Trump\u2019s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement, giving the president easy access to a sprawling political base that seems to lap up the casual violence in his rambling, blowhard rhetoric. <\/p>\n

As if to prove the point, Trump hosted a UFC fight night on the White House lawn in June to mark his own 80th birthday and the 250th anniversary of American independence. White has said he and Trump were watching a Saturday night fight in New Jersey or Miami when the president leant over to suggest holding such an event. Preparations started two days later. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d make the case that for the vast majority of Donald Trump\u2019s tenure in office, the UFC has been the sports arm,\u201d says Egyptian-born investigative journalist Karim Zidan, author of The Ultimate Strongmen, a forthcoming book on how Trump weaponised MMA to rally a new constituency of young men. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I say that, what I mean is it is not just some UFC officials here and there supporting him, some fighters here and there supporting him. It is institutionalised,\u201d he adds, noting how UFC as a brand has moved on from spectacle and entertainment to become \u201cpolitically viable\u201d in its own right. <\/p>\n

\"UFCUFC fight night on the White House lawn on June 15th. Photograph: Alex Brandon\/AFP\/Getty <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the perfect sport for Donald Trump. In an administration, especially in the second administration, that has really sort of built itself around the ideology of might is right, this has true strongman appeal. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe UFC is simply the perfect organisation for that. It presents itself as a meritocracy where the toughest succeed, where your strength, your intelligence, and your skill is what\u2019s going to lead you to victory. That is exactly the world that Donald Trump wants to occupy.\u201d <\/p>\n

If the president was perturbed by the court finding that McGregor was liable for raping Nikita Hand it is not apparent. Trump himself has been judged liable by a federal jury for sexually assaulting writer E Jean Carroll in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. He denied the charges. In July he paid Carroll $5.6 million in damages after the US Supreme Court rejected his latest attempt to appeal the verdict. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying the two cases are identical, but they ended up in very similar positions,\u201d says American combat sports analyst Luke Thomas of the civil rape proceedings against Trump and McGregor. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that Conor\u2019s conduct would be disqualifying to a man like that drains credulity, to put it mildly.\u201d <\/p>\n

Thomas, who works for podcast producer All the Smoke, says it would be wrong to say the court findings against McGregor didn\u2019t register at all in the lead-up to the Holloway fight. Still, the \u201cpass\u201d McGregor received in the MMA world was in contrast to the Irish response. <\/p>\n

\"ConorConor McGregor and host Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show on US television network NBC last month. Photograph: Todd Owyoung\/NBC\/Getty <\/p>\n

There was no mention of Hand\u2019s case when Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC\u2019s ritzy Tonight Show, gave McGregor a hero\u2019s welcome on the programme in June. A pre-fight interview on the UFC website \u2013 titled The Mac is Back \u2013 referred only obliquely to \u201csome of his issues away from the sport\u201d and said McGregor \u201cadmitted\u201d seeking help to get himself into a better, healthier place. \u201cFame has its pitfalls,\u201d McGregor was quoted as saying. \u201cYou better move carefully in this world, for sure. Probably even more so now.\u201d<\/p>\n

For all that, McGregor was asked at a media event before the fight whether he understood why some people felt the court case meant he did not deserve the UFC platform. \u201cI\u2019m an innocent man, and I\u2019ll stand for my innocence until the day I go out,\u201d he replied. <\/p>\n

In a statement sent from New Jersey-based public relations advisers, McGregor\u2019s solicitor Ciar\u00e1n Mulholland said his client \u201crightly stood up\u201d against what he described as \u201cthe one-sided narrative\u201d surrounding the case. \u201cTo be deemed liable in a civil claim should never equate to criminal guilt and circumvent due process, and it certainly doesn\u2019t prevent Mr McGregor from pursuing his remarkable career as a fighter and entrepreneur,\u201d Mulholland said.<\/p>\n

For all the public opprobrium he has faced and huge legal setbacks, the UFC can open up a lucrative seam of income. <\/p>\n

McGregor\u2019s fee for the fleeting Holloway bout is reported in some quarters to be in the region of $30 million. But is this true? Karen Kessler, spokeswoman for McGregor, did not say. \u201cHis fight generated record viewership and, as per the UFC, sold out hotel rooms across Las Vegas,\u201d she said. \u201cHis compensation, undisclosed and private, reflected his enormous appeal and draw.\u201d<\/p>\n

Financial records for the McGregor empire are opaque at best, although they show plenty of money in circulation in the period before the High Court ruling.<\/p>\n

\"ConorConor McGregor after suffering a leg injury that ended his comeback fight in Las Vegas on July 11th. Photograph: Tom Hogan\/Inpho \"MaxMax Holloway lands a punch on Conor McGregor during their fight in Las Vegas. Photograph: Ian Maule\/Getty <\/p>\n

Abridged unaudited financial statements signed off in November 2025 for his company McGregor Sports and Entertainments do not provide a detailed picture of its activities in 2024, the year that ended with the Nikita Hand case. Still, the statements showed this company owed \u20ac51.78 million to unspecified \u201cLuxembourg Entities\u201d and provided \u20ac18.56 million in unspecified services to related company Emrajare. A further \u20ac3.4 million of services were provided to another company, called Heron Bell.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Trump and the Irish tech bros: How the \u2018crypto president\u2019 is winning over Silicon ValleyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

McGregor Sports and Entertainments also provided services worth \u20ac8.79 million in 2024 to his company Forged Stout Distribution, and services worth \u20ac8.54 million to another, known as Forged Stout Production. McGregor\u2019s Forged Stout was one of the products delisted by multiple suppliers immediately after the Nikita Hand ruling in the final weeks of 2024.<\/p>\n

The drink was dropped from Tesco stores, and also from Barry Group (Costcutters stores and Carry Out off-licences), Musgrave (Supervalu and Centra) and BWG (Spar, Eurospar, Mace, Londis and XL). <\/p>\n

\u201cHis stout continues to be available in new markets throughout Europe,\u201d Kessler said without specifying particular markets when replying to the question of how many pubs stock the product. <\/p>\n

Another casualty of the High Court decision was McGregor\u2019s association with Proximo, the Mexican owner of Bushmills Irish whiskey and Tequila which bought his Proper No. Twelve whiskey brand for some $130 million in 2021. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Conor McGregor Inc: the fighter\u2019s potential losses in the fallout from civil rape case are enormousOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Asked whether McGregor was required to pay any termination fees when Proximo dropped him from whiskey marketing, Kessler said: \u201cWhile no longer an active partner in Proper No. Twelve whiskey, he is proud of its success in the market and was paid out for his many contributions to its success.\u201d <\/p>\n

Accounts signed off last September for Proximo\u2019s Irish business, JC Master Distribution, said \u201cProper No. 12 saw negative results due to unforeseen circumstances\u201d in 2024. The circumstances were not specified so it is unclear whether this was linked to the court case. <\/p>\n

None of that was good news for McGregor, whose image was also dropped from the Hitman video game franchise. <\/p>\n

Still, UFC\u2019s willingness to give him top billing in a major fight event shows the mood was different in the world of the cage-fighting. <\/p>\n

Thomas, the All the Smoke analyst, says people in MMA tend not to consistently interrogate the background of fighters and others in the sport. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you need to get your image improved, and especially if you have a lot of money and or fame, the very best place to do it is going to be combat sports,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u2018Donald Trump understands that he can promote himself and present the very best version of himself by associating with the UFC\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Karim Zidan<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not going to ask a lot of questions at the door. Even if there are questions, they\u2019re going to sidestep them or \u2013 you name it \u2013 it\u2019s just [that] the premium is placed on the activity itself and who is good at delivering it. It\u2019s very much a place where moral considerations, not exclusively, but predominantly, go to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas notes how Trump himself used UFC for \u201cimage rehab\u201d after the Washington, DC, insurrection of January 2021 when thousands of his supporters stormed the US Capitol, disrupting a joint congressional session to certify the result of the 2020 election won by Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe actually does this over and over and over again and there is some evidence not that UFC by itself won him the [2024] election but that they were pretty instrumental in helping him access hard-to-reach portions of the electorate, like young men,\u201d Thomas says. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were very decisive in that particular regard. They helped return a guy to power who\u2019s not merely a political extremist but tried to steal a presidential election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, Zidan describes how Trump went to a UFC fight two days after he was convicted in May 2024 of 34 counts of falsifying records of \u201chush money\u201d payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Dave Hannigan: Trump family go all-in with UFC\u2019s in-house racist CovingtonOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cHis first appearance post-that was at a UFC event. The same goes for when he started doing terribly in the polls because of launching these sort of tariff wars with his neighbours and allies around the world \u2013 he immediately attended a UFC event,\u201d Zidan says. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo this is a clear pattern where Donald Trump understands that he can promote himself and present the very best version of himself by associating with the UFC.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for McGregor, one question now is whether he can find a way back to fitness so he can complete the comeback he was \u201cborn\u201d to do. \u201cWhile disappointed and frustrated that he sustained an injury in his fight, Mr McGregor is looking forward to fulfilling his current UFC contract once he recovers,\u201d Kessler said.<\/p>\n

\"ConorConor McGregor addresses the media in the White House press briefing on St Patrick’s Day last year before meeting Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo\/EPA\/Bloomberg\/Getty <\/p>\n

His next fight, if he makes it, will be the last under his UFC contract, fuelling some speculation about a possible tie-up with Netflix as it moves to stream big MMA fights. <\/p>\n

But a return to the cage will still be difficult. \u201cHe\u2019s having knee surgery \u2013 that\u2019s it,\u201d White said, replying to questions about McGregor at a UFC event in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, the Conor McGregor discussion isn\u2019t even worth talking about. He\u2019s got to have knee surgery. He\u2019s going to have to go through physical therapy. It\u2019s all going to take time. And then when the doctor says you can start hard-core training again, then we\u2019ll start talking about Conor McGregor again.\u201d <\/p>\n

This was from the same man who lionised McGregor only a short time before the Holloway fight. <\/p>\n

Interviewed in May by the New Yorker, White compared him with the boxer considered the greatest fighter of all. \u201cWe have a guy named Conor McGregor, who I would say is like our Muhammad Ali,\u201d White said, adding people were fascinated by their \u201cincredible, magnetic\u201d personalities. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome have a thing that they turn on. Muhammad Ali was the same guy in the livingroom, with his wife and kids, that he was when you saw him on TV. And Conor McGregor\u2019s same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Needless to say, Ali-like greatness did not spring to mind after McGregor\u2019s 69-second flop. <\/p>\n

Now Thomas believes some of those who previously had no issue with the court ruling may be changing their view because of his \u201cdud\u201d performance in the cage. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe attitudes towards him post-fight versus pre-fight are shifting rapidly,\u201d he says, <\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest part of it was that people had expected some big return and he didn\u2019t deliver on that. But that it weirdly is now bleeding out into other areas that are making them kind of look at the state of Conor. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you had brought up pre-fight something about Nikita Hand, you would get dogpiled online, and you still might. But if you brought up the fact that he got held liable for sexual assault post-fight, there\u2019s a little bit \u2013 at least online anecdotally, is my experience \u2013 that there\u2019s less resistance to it.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few days before Conor McGregor\u2019s big comeback fight in Las Vegas last month, his coach John Kavanagh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,4736,2490,786,31861,785,367045,85,89643,787,76232],"class_list":["post-847787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-conor-mcgregor","tag-donald-trump","tag-fighting","tag-high-court","tag-mma","tag-nikita-hand","tag-sports","tag-trump-presidency","tag-ufc","tag-weekendreview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}