Sexual assault allegations against Conor McGregor haven’t harmed the UFC legend in the eyes of President Donald Trump.
Speaking with conservative Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the White House, Trump professed an appreciation for McGregor, who recently appeared at the President’s inauguration in January.
‘He’s got the best tattoos I’ve ever seen,’ Trump said. ‘Conor’s great, right?
‘You have a lot of great Irish fighters. I don’t know what that is, but Ireland has always had a lot of good fighters. You know why? Because they’re tough people. They’re smart people and they’re passionate people.’
It was at this moment when Trump remembered that Martin’s father Paddy was a boxer in addition to being a soldier in the Defense Forces and a bus driver.
‘I think your father was a great fighter, right?’ Trump asked Martin.
Conor McGregor leaves an Irish court in November after losing a $257,000 judgement
Speaking at the White House with conservative Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin (right), Trump professed an appreciation for McGregor, who recently appeared at the January inauguration
Martin immediately agreed: ‘He was.’
‘And yet, look at you, you’re so smooth,’ Trump told Martin, drawing a few laughs from reporters.
Trump then added: ‘Genetically, I’m not gonna mess around with you.’
The last few years have been difficult for McGregor, who has admitted to using cocaine while denying allegations of sexual assault.
An Irish court ordered him to pay $257,000 to the woman who accused him of raping her in 2018 on a night when he was admittedly using drugs.
Furthermore, McGregor and the NBA’s Miami Heat are currently facing a federal lawsuit over claims the MMA legend sexually assaulted a woman in a bathroom at the Kaseya Center while security stood guard outside the stall.
Not only is he accused of sexually assaulting a woman at that game, but in a misguided on-court bit, McGregor struck the team mascot, Burnie, sending the costumed performer tumbling down to the hardwood earlier in the evening. A second punch sent the mascot kicking his feet and rolling in apparent agony.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra later confirmed that the person portraying the mascot was taken to the hospital, but assured reporters Burnie didn’t suffer any permanent injuries.
‘We won’t reveal who that is, but yeah, he can take a punch and get back up,’ Spoelstra said at the time. ‘He’s not going to miss any time.’
McGregor arrives at the Turning Point USA Inaugural-Eve Ball at the Salamander Hotel
McGregor has since portrayed the incident as a ‘skit’ gone awry.
‘The mascot’s good, my man,’ he told Adam Glyn in June of 2023. ‘The Mascot is good. It was a skit, and it went the way it went, but all is well.’
McGregor isn’t the only combat sports figure accused of sexual misconduct with ties to Trump.
Kickboxer and social media influencer Andrew Tate has claimed to be close to the Trump family, adding that he’s spoken with 18-year-old Baron.
He and his brother Tristan recently fled Romania, where they face human trafficking, organized crime and money laundering charges, as well as a rape claim against the 38-year-old social media influencer, Andrew. They both deny the allegations.
The brothers arrived in Florida last week, only to discover state Attorney General James Uthmeier launched an investigation into the outstanding allegations against them – something Andrew described as ‘absolute communism.’ The brothers have since arrived in Nevada, where they’ve been seen hobnobbing with another Trump acolyte, UFC president Dana White.
Of course, there is considerably public animosity towards Andrew, a self-described misogynist, who became famous on reality television and has since claimed to make $600,000 a month off of 75 female employees working at his webcam business.
Both US-UK dual citizens, the Tates were banned from leaving Romania pending their criminal probe. They’re also facing criminal proceedings in the UK over human trafficking and rape claims dating back to between 2012 and 2015.
Andrew Tate, left, attends UFC 313 with his brother, Tristan, right, on Saturday in Las Vegas
Their return to the United States remains somewhat opaque.
The Tates’ US-based attorney Joseph McBride said he would not comment on any potential State Department or White House involvement in his clients’ return to the country. Trump officials have similarly sidestepped comment on the subject, while Trump himself said he was unaware of the situation before vowing to look into the matter.
However, sources told The Financial Times in February that US officials discussed the Tate brothers’ case in a phone call with Romanian government officials.
Furthermore, Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell reportedly addressed the case with Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February. One source told the FT a request had been made to return the Tates’ passports and allow their return to the United States as they await the conclusion of their sex-trafficking trial. Hurezeanu confirmed to Euronews that he did speak with Grenell but denied facing any pressure to allow the Tates to leave Romania.
‘I did not perceive this statement as pressure, just a repeat of a known stance,’ Hurezeanu said. ‘I don’t know what pressures of another nature were made before or after but what I discussed with Mr. Grenell was cordial, informal, brief, non-binding and I certainly did not detect any form of pressure.’
Following their arrival in the US, McBride released a statement saying the Tates ‘feel secure in America for several reasons, the primary one being that Donald Trump is the President.’
