On Sunday night, Conor McGregor makes his comeback against Max Holloway in the welterweight division. A match that has generated harsh criticism regarding the responsibility of the MMA organization UFC.
"I am an innocent man, and I will stand up for my innocence until the day I die," said the former featherweight and lightweight champion when
about the verdict in the 2024 civil case.
Sexual violence
McGregor was then ordered to pay damages to Nikita Hand after a jury found him liable for a brutal rape in a Dublin hotel.
“The message is that sexual violence against women doesn’t matter that much,” wrote journalist Sarah Shephard in The New York Times, echoing much of the criticism heard ahead of the gala.
"Their trauma cannot compete with the power of the sport, or the power that the sport gives to its protagonists," Shephard wrote, pointing out that McGregor was not asked about the verdict when he guested on talk show host Jimmy Fallon ahead of his comeback.
McGregor remains the UFC's biggest draw ever, having headlined the five highest-grossing events in the organization's history, the record being set against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, which generated a whopping 2.4 million pay-per-view buys.
But McGregor was seriously injured in his last fight, where his lower leg was broken, when he faced Dustin Poirer in UFC 264 (July 2021).
Drugs and doping
During his five-year hiatus, McGregor has been embroiled in controversies related to violence, doping and political nationalism. He was accused of assaulting a woman on his luxury yacht in Ibiza in 2022, and during the 2023 NBA Finals in Miami, he was accused of assaulting her in a restroom - charges that were later dropped by the plaintiffs. In addition to
he was suspended from the UFC for 18 months after three failed drug tests.McGregor has also received harsh criticism for inciting riots in Dublin through right-wing populist statements on social media, but has also been invited to
.Many predict that his fight against the favorite Holloway will be a loss, but that McGregor also has the ability to surprise with a knockout.
UFC 329 starts at 3 a.m. Sunday morning.
