Conor McGregor is a major star in the UFC. He didn’t have a single fight in 2022, but he was constantly in the news and attracted attention.

We’ve compiled the highlights of McGregor’s life that sparkled last year.

Conor has rocked hard: he is now being compared to bodybuilders and accused of doping

In July 2021, McGregor had his last fight when he lost for the second time in a row to Dustin Porrier and suffered a severe leg fracture. But two weeks later he showed on social media how he was working out at the gym with a cast on his leg.

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Conor loaded his torso so as not to bother his ailing ankle: he did pull-ups, bicep raises, and dumbbell presses. Six months later he became noticeably more powerful, and strength training videos were appearing more and more often on his social networks.

By early 2022, Conor had gained about 15 pounds (not fat, but muscle) and built a bodybuilder’s body.

“He’s never been that big. I wonder what he’s sitting on because his arms are just huge. His head, his chest – he’s really pumped up. He looks like a bodybuilder now,” believes lightweight champion Aljamain Sterling.

UFC commentator Joe Rogan also suspected McGregor of doping. He joked: “Conor’s urine will dissolve the USADA sample jar.

There are reasons for that: McGregor has not been tested for more than a year – the last time was in the summer of 2021 before the fight with Porier. No one knows how clean he is now, because banned drugs could have been used to speed up his recovery from injury or gain weight.

Conor had a fight with Artem Lobov – the case went to court. In 2018, he attacked Khabib’s team bus for his friend.

The two Irish fighters were best friends: flashed together in photos, trained in the same gym and conquered the UFC. The status friendship helped get Lobov into the UFC: it was influenced by The Ultimate Fighter season, where Conor was a trainer. Lobov wasn’t the best fighter, but he remained a great friend, living in McGregor’s house and eating his wife’s breakfast.

For his sake, McGregor got into the UFC’s noisiest scandal and almost got in trouble with the law. When Khabib and his friends ran over Lobov at a hotel before UFC 229, Conor crashed the bus Nurmagomedov was sitting in.

In 2022, the friendship was gone: Lobov sued McGregor, demanding money from the sale of the whiskey brand Proper Twelve. The response was comparisons to a rat and a joke song.

What is the essence of the lawsuit? In August 2022, Lobov revealed that he helped Conor come up with the whiskey brand. A probable thank you for the proposed idea was a million dollars, which he refused.

“You know, when I helped him in training camp, he wanted to pay me every time, but I never accepted money from him. I told him, ‘We’ve always been friends and helped each other. I never paid you for helping me train, so don’t offer me money,” Lobov recalled in an interview with talkSPORT.

Years later, everything changed: Lobov finished his career and hasn’t fought in the UFC for a long time, and his friendship with Conor seems to have fallen apart. When McGregor sold Proper Twelve to the Proximo Spirits brand for a profit in 2021, Lobov remembered his own contribution, went to court and demanded 5% of the deal. Meanwhile, ESPN reported that Conor and his partners sold a controlling stake for $600 million.

Lobov didn’t stop and filed a second lawsuit — for calling McGregor a rat. The court promptly dismissed the claim and said the insult was not enough to start the proceedings.

Conor starred in Hollywood – in a remake of an ’80s action movie. And became the hero of a Netflix documentary.

In 2022, it was announced that Conor would make his film debut in the remake of the 1989 action movie “Roadhouse.” He had been aiming for Hollywood for a long time, but never found the right project. In 2016, Conor could have played in Vin Diesel’s “Three X’s”, but after losing to Nate Diaz, he turned it down in order to concentrate on fighting.

Now McGregor’s involvement has been confirmed: filming took place in the fall, with Conor getting a cameo role and Jake Gyllenhaal playing the lead.

In the original “Road House” the bouncer (Patrick Swayze) came to a small provincial town to clean up the bar. But ran into a corrupt businessman and a local gang leader – after which he started a war.

The plot of the remake is similar to the original, and the main character will be a former UFC fighter who fights with the mafia. Who Conor will play is not yet known. Deadline wrote that it will be a full-fledged character, not a role of himself.

The publication noted: Hollywood has long wanted to work with McGregor, but he demanded that the debut was special and with the right character. After the producers’ offer, Conor watched the original “Road House” for the first time and became interested in the remake.

Even earlier, McGregor would appear on screens in a Netflix project. It will be a documentary about his recovery from a broken leg and other episodes of his career — like the foot injury he suffered before his fight with Khabib.

“This documentary will come out before my next fight, four episodes. And they will appear before my Hollywood debut in the infamous ‘Roadhouse.’ You’ll see what’s what. And it’s not free,” McGregor warned.

What to expect from Conor in 2023? Almost no opponents in the UFC – but there are options outside the promotion

Conor is in a strange position: everyone understands he’s given up a lot, but he can’t fight opponents with no name. That’s why the UFC needs a) a high-profile fighter; b) a fighter weak enough for Conor.

In 2020, veteran Donald Cerrone became that: a knockout in 40 seconds brought McGregor back after a loss to Khabib. There are fewer options now. Michael Chandler is rumored to be the opponent. Both he and the UFC want the fight, but McGregor hasn’t signed a contract yet. Chandler, though, is confident the two will fight in the future:

“Have I heard back from Conor McGregor? No answer yet. It’s a fight that the UFC has shown interest in. I think Conor is interested in it based on his reaction in the past.

There’s no doubt that we’ll share the octagon with Conor. It may not be our next fight, but it will happen in the future,” Chandler told Walk on Wisdom.

Outside of the UFC, McGregor has more options. According to The Sun, undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather discussed a rematch with him in July. Another option is blogger Jake Paul, who challenged McGregor to a fight back in 2020 and then regularly poked fun at him on social media.

The big sport is over: the UFC eliminated Conor from the rankings, and Dane White doesn’t know when he will return to the octagon. But there are still plenty of options to make money.