McGregor Returns to UFC Amid Civil Case, Doping Ban
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- Conor McGregor faces Max Holloway at UFC 329 in Las Vegas on Sunday, his first fight since breaking his leg in defeat by Dustin Poirier in 2021 and his return from a career-threatening injury.
- A Dublin jury found McGregor sexually assaulted Nikita Hand in December 2018; he was ordered to pay £206,000 plus damages and lost his civil appeal in July 2025, though he continues to deny the allegation.
- McGregor served an 18-month UFC anti-doping ban after missing three drugs tests within a 12-month period in 2024 — the ban concluded in March — and has since been tested 14 times by CSAD this year, more than any other fighter on the roster.
- A win over Donald Cerrone in 2020 remains McGregor's only victory in the past nine years, raising doubts about how he will match up against Holloway, regarded as one of the best fighters of all time.
- Before UFC's Paramount deal began in January, McGregor's fights accounted for eight of the promotion's top-10 highest-selling pay-per-views, and Forbes ranked him the world's highest-paid athlete in 2021 at nearly £128m over 12 months.
- McGregor ended his bid to run for Irish president in September after political leaders said he 'does not speak for Ireland,' capping a year of public controversies beyond the octagon.
Why it matters: Dana White is headlining UFC's flagship International Fight Week with McGregor despite critics questioning whether a fighter with one win in nine years, a civil sexual-assault verdict, and a doping ban still deserves the spotlight. The promotion's commercial bet: McGregor's pay-per-view track record — eight of UFC's top-10 highest-selling events before the Paramount deal — still outweighs the reputational drag, but journalists in Vegas noted fight-week pressers largely sidestepped the controversy.
