UFC star Conor McGregor was arrested in Miami Beach on Monday evening on charges of strong-arm robbery and misdemeanor criminal mischief after an altercation involving a fan outside the Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel in the wee hours of the morning, according to the Miami Herald.
Police told the Herald that a fan was taking pictures outside the hotel, home to LIV nightclub, when McGregor allegedly took the fan’s phone and smashed it around 5 a.m. The star fighter was booked on Monday evening in a Miami-Dade jail.
This is the second time in as many years McGregor has found himself in legal trouble. Last year he was arrested in New York and faced assault charges after he attacked a bus following the UFC 223 press conference at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. McGregor is currently serving the last month of his six-month suspension for his role in a post-fight brawl after his loss at UFC 229 to Khabib Nurmagomedov, and can return to the Octagon in early April.
UFC has not released any statements on McGregor’s arrest, but one wouldn’t expect this to come with much in the way of punishment beyond payment to the fan for the broken phone if they choose to file a civil suit. It’s not the first time an athlete has responded in such a way to a fan taking pictures of them outside a nightclub, as J.R. Smith faced criminal mischief charges a year ago for a similar incident in New York.
