20 Memorable Conor McGregor Moments That Made Fans Cringe

Darren - January 17, 2020

20 Memorable Conor McGregor Moments That Made Fans Cringe

Darren - January 17, 2020

12. UFC 229 Brawl

First of all, we’ve got to say that McGregor didn’t start this. That lies entirely at Khabib’s feet. But it was still one of the most embarrassing moments in UFC history. Televised to millions around the world, it was a real facepalm moment for the promotion. But that wasn’t the most cringe-worthy part.

After the brawl, McGregor released a lengthy tweet basically saying he had destroyed two of Khabib’s teammates who came after him. In short, he was trying to deflect attention from his bad beating by Khabib. Needless to say, fans saw right through it. Sometimes it’s just best to say nothing.

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11. ‘Retirement’

McGregor has already ‘retired’ twice in his career. Both times he was trying to put pressure on the UFC. The first stunned the world in the run-up to UFC 200. He refused to do media duties and instead he holed up in Iceland with his team. The UFC pulled him from the card so he ‘retired.’ It only lasted for a few days as they negotiated. However, the second just infuriated fans.

It came when his Brooklyn bus attack was still in the news. Many supporters thought that he was just looking for attention and would definitely be back. The fact that he is fighting again shows that you just can’t trust his word. No wonder he gets along so well with Dana White.

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10. The Brooklyn Bus Attack

This could be higher but some fans think this was epic. In short, McGregor wanted revenge on Khabib for intimidating Artem Lobov. So his natural response was to fly a group of 20 goons over to Brooklyn from Ireland by private jet. They then proceeded to rampage through the Barclays Center where UFC 223 was going down.

McGregor infamously threw a dolly at the window of a bus carrying several fighters including Khabib. Two fighters got glass in their eyes, preventing them from fighting in the event. Meanwhile, NYPD picked McGregor up and he spent the night in a precinct. This was absolute chaos but still used to promote McGregor’s pending bout with Nurmagomedov.

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9. Strip Club Antics

Welcome to the final installment of our ‘poor Dee Devlin’ series. This one allegedly comes from a strip club in London only a couple of days after the Rita Ora incident. So yes, Devlin was still at home with their newly-born son Conor Jr. Meanwhile, McGregor was partying away like it was his last week on earth.

The pictures from this night out pretty much tell you everything you need to know. First of all, surely a man of McGregor’s riches can afford to go to a place where the strippers have better taste in underwear? That black and yellow combination is just nasty. But as you can, McGregor doesn’t seem to care because he was all over it.

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8. Dance for Me Boy

Racism and McGregor are two words that have come together more than once. During his media tour with Floyd Mayweather, he infamously told him to ‘dance for me, boy.’ Of course, this evoked images of the Jim Crow era and brought the ire of African-American fans.

Things escalated when he said that he’s not racist because ‘black from the waist down.’ We’re not exactly sure that’s how it works. But one thing is for sure, the former double champion knows how to dig a hole for himself. He should have just stopped talking because that’s a no-win situation.

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7. The Water Bottle Fight

This was as petty as it gets. McGregor has a history of turning up late to press conferences. It’s one of his ways of saying that he runs the show. But Nate Diaz has no time for this sort of thing so he stormed out with Stockton’s finest. On the way, the pair exchanged expletives and crude gestures.

Then things escalated. A member of the Diaz squad threw a bottle in McGregor’s direction. The then-featherweight champion responded by throwing back five or six at Diaz’s group. UFC President Dana White despairingly called his name for him to stop. The NAC ultimately hit him with a $50,000 fine.

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6. The UFC 229 Press Conference

McGregor is as famous for his trash talk as he is for his fighting. He has a remarkable way with words and is brilliant at mental warfare. The one thing is that he never loses control. However, the UFC 229 presser revealed his vulnerability. He was a total loose cannon.

Since the conference, he has admitted that he was actually drunk. McGregor targeted everything from Khabib’s father, to his religion to Russian geopolitics in a furious, venomous tirade. But it sounded unhinged in a way that fans had never seen before. It was seriously uncomfortable to watch.

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5. The Broken Phone

Why can’t McGregor just walk away? This is another incident of him just making unnecessary trouble for himself. This time “The Notorious” was in Florida celebrating his mother’s 60th birthday. So, of course, he wound up spending the night in the cell of a Miami precinct. It’s so annoying when that happens right?

He got into it with a fan who asked for a picture with him. However, the man had been antagonizing McGregor and his crew all night so the Irishman wasn’t reciprocal. Instead, he took the phone from the so-called fan and smashed it on the ground. McGregor ended up settling out of court.

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4. Bellator 187

Charlie Ward seems to bring out the worst in McGregor. The Notorious was in attendance at Bellator 187 in Dublin, Ireland when this moment of madness happened. After Ward knocked out John Redmond, McGregor climbed into the cage to share his teammate’s moment of glory.

Referee Marc Goddard attempted to remove McGregor from the cage because he had no right to be there. But the Irishman saw red and violently shoved him. He also smacked a Bellator staff member on his way out of the building. The worst part was the injured Redmond took another knock during the fracas.

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3. Sexual Assault Allegations

The only reason this isn’t at the top of the list is that no charges have been pressed at the time of writing. However, McGregor can’t shake the sexual assault allegations and it’s definitely tarnished his reputation. The New York Times released the story in 2019. The worst part was that the online UFC fanbase seemed unsurprised.

McGregor appeared to have gone full Mike Tyson according to the reports. These are just allegations right now, but he shouldn’t be in this situation. Did McGregor go from pauper to prince too quickly? Having an occasional good night out is perfectly human but all of his crazy parties have taken their toll.

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2. ‘Your Wife is a Towel’

One of the world’s current truths is that the Internet is forever. If you post something it’s almost impossible to get rid of it. Especially if you’re a global superstar with the world’s media watching everything you post for a story. During the height of McGregor’s toxic rivalry with Khabib, things got very personal.

Usually when fighters trash talk, it’s an unofficial rule that you don’t talk about family members. McGregor went for the jugular and called the devout Muslim’s wife a ‘towel.’ He swiftly deleted the tweet but not before MMA publications had screengrabbed it. Fans lost even more respect for him after this.

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1. Old Man Punch

By the far, the worst confirmed incident in the past few years was when McGregor punched a 50-year-old man in Dublin’s Marble Arch pub. To sum up, he tried to buy a round of his whiskey for everybody in the bar but the older man rejected it twice. McGregor reacted violently.

He lashed out with a sucker punch that bounced off of the man’s skull. Fans greeted his action with derision and contempt. This was a new low for McGregor and he swiftly broke a media silence to apologize because he realized he had gone too far. After facing assault charges, the Irish court fined him for his pathetic action.

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