UFC star Conor McGregor arrested in New York after bus attack

Superstar MMA fighter Conor McGregor is in custody in a police station in New York after he was involved in a clash with fellow UFC stars at a press event in Brooklyn.

Conor McGregor.

The Irishman, who hasn’t fought since a money-spinning boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr last August, arrived in Brooklyn ahead of the UFC’s latest pay-per-view event, UFC 223.

He and an entourage of at least 12 attacked a bus which was carrying UFC fighters from the event, resulting in injuries to several participants on the card.

McGregor, who has been stripped of his UFC lightweight title after 18 months years of inactivity, was shown in video footage recorded at the Barclay’s Centre in New York throwing various objects at the bus, including a metal hand truck or dolly which shattered a passenger side window.

It is thought that the attack on the bus was a form of retaliation by McGregor following an altercation his teammate Artem Lobov had with fellow lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is headlining the UFC 223 card in a fight for McGregor’s former belt.

American news outlets reported that a warrant was issued for McGregor’s arrest, and the 29-year-old reportedly handed himself in to the police in Brooklyn were he was charged with counts of misdemeanour assault and one count of felony criminal mischief.

That is unlikely to be the end of the Irish star’s problems, as UFC President Dana White promised he would take action against the controversial athlete.

It is expected that several of the fighters and UFC staff involved in the incident will launch legal action against McGregor.

Three bouts have been scrapped from the UFC 223 card as a result of McGregor’s actions, with teammate Lobov removed for his part in the disturbance, while fighters Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg were deemed unfit to compete after glass from the broken window of the bus saw them suffer cuts to the face and eye respectively.