Conor McGregor was arrested on Monday, March 11, after allegedly smashing a fan’s phone outside the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.
The 30-year-old and the fan were exiting the resort at about 5 a.m. on Monday when the fan tried taking a photo with the phone, according to an arrest record cited by the Miami Herald. Then McGregor “slapped” the phone out of the fan’s hand, stomped on it several times, picked it up and walked away with it, police said.
After investigating the incident during the day on Monday, police found the MMA star at a Miami Beach home and booked him at a Miami-Dade jail on Monday night. He is charged with felony strong-armed robbery and criminal mischief.
Samuel Rabin, McGregor’s defense lawyer in Miami, said in a statement to the Herald that his client “was involved in a minor altercation involving a cell phone that resulted in a call to law enforcement.” The lawyer added: “Mr. McGregor appreciates the response of law enforcement and pledges his full cooperation.”
The athlete — who welcomed his second child with girlfriend Dee Devlin in January — was previously arrested in April 2018 after throwing a dolly through the window of a charter bus carrying UFC fighters after a media day for UFC 223. He was charged with two felonies but pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge and was sentenced to three days of anger management courses and five days of community service.
McGregor, a former two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder, was also suspended for six months and fined $50,000 after he and rival Khabib Nurmagomedov got into a brawl at UFC 229 in October 2018. Nurmagomedov, 30, was banned for nine months and fined $500,000 for his involvement in the altercation. The two fighters’ match at UFC 229 drew a record 2.5 million pay-per-view buys.
