UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor appeared in court for a speeding ticket on Thursday, but reports out of Ireland of a separate incident are far more alarming than a traffic infraction.
Conor McGregor allegedly punched a member of the Irish cartel and may have a €900,000 bounty on his head
Details are murky, but here’s what we know so far.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
According to reports, McGregor walked into a pub in Ireland on Sunday night and punched a known mafia associate following an argument.
The first report of the incident came from The Independent, which didn’t name McGregor directly — instead referring to a “well-known Irish celebrity” and also referring to a “sports star.”
The report alleges that the athlete punched a man in his 50s who is believed to be the father of convicted drug dealer Graham ‘The Wig’ Whelan. Both Whelan and the man McGregor allegedly punched are members of the Kinahan cartel in Dublin. No police reports were filed in response to the alleged brawl in the pub.
Shortly following the release of the report from The Independent, McGregor posted a video to his Instagram account with a hoodie pulled over his face and the caption simply saying “the celebrity,” which was seen by some as an acknowledgement that he was the man referenced in the report.
A separate story from The International Business Times claims that McGregor’s actions have caused a €900,000 bounty to be put on his head — demanding McGregor pay protection money or risk being killed. Irish crime reporter Paul Williams said the following about McGregor:
”I have to say about this, and I’m wearing my old, veteran crime reporter hat. Conor McGregor is in a very dangerous place at the moment. He has come into conflict through probably no fault of his own, with a group of very, very dangerous people who are tied up with the Kinahans.”
Williams went on to say that if McGregor did not already have plans to leave the country, he would likely be approached by Garda (the Irish national police) and warned that a threat on his safety is a possibility. Williams noted that the Kinahan cartel would not care how famous McGregor is or how visible he is.
The difficulty in tracking this story is that much of it is based on conjecture and hearsay, as one would expect from a story involving the Irish mafia. McGregor’s father called the reports “nonsense,” saying his son had nothing to fear. This echoes some doubts surrounding the story from people saying if the threats were credible McGregor would have already left Ireland.
Currently, little is known about the credibility of the threats or whether they are real. McGregor left court for his speeding ticket charge Thursday, and when asked by reporters about the threats against his life, he simply replied, “Come and get me.”
We’ll continue to follow this story as it develops.
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