CONOR MCGREGOR IS in Washington DC to attend the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States.

Ahead of the main event later today, McGregor met both Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Pete Hegseth, Trump’s controversial pick for the next Secretary of Defense.

Farage and McGregor shake hands at an event yesterday Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Farage – who has recently been at odds with other Trump ally Elon Musk – posted a photo of himself and McGregor on Instagram yesterday with the caption ‘We are so back’.

McGregor shared the same image with the same caption on X (formerly Twitter). 

“We are so back!” - @Nigel_Farage #MyBrother 🇮🇪❤️🇬🇧 @KTHopkins #marriotdc pic.twitter.com/zNRH0OQ0aK

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 20, 2025

McGregor also met Hegseth at an event last night.

Hegseth, one of the most controversial among Trump’s picks for his new Cabinet, is a former Army National Guard officer and ex-Fox News host.

He has faced allegations of sexual assault, financial misconduct and excessive drinking, and lingering questions over his views on women in the military.

BREAKING: Conor McGregor just met with Pete Hegseth.

The next President of Ireland and the next US Secretary of Defense! 🇮🇪🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/rUCKriQioc

— Cillian (@CilComLFC) January 20, 2025

At a confirmation hearing last week, Hegseth was questioned by US senators about these issues.

When asked about the sexual assault allegations, Hegseth referred to them as “a coordinated smear campaign”, which he said had also been targeted against Trump by the “left-wing media”.

“False attacks, anonymous attacks,” is how he described the reports.

Later in the hearing, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine refuted Hegseth’s claim that the accusations were anonymous.

“You claim that this was all anonymous? We have seen records with names attached to all of these, including the name of your own mother,” Kaine said, adding: “So don’t make this into some anonymous press thing.”

High Court ruling last week 

Last Thursday, a High Court judge ordered McGregor not to disseminate any CCTV footage that was shown during the civil trial taken against him by Nikita Hand.

Mr Justice Alexander Owens also directed that McGregor return any copies of the footage or other material discovered during the course of the litigation to his solicitors and arrange for the permanent deletion of any copies he has.

In November last year, McGregor was deemed liable for sexually assaulting Hand in the Beacon Hotel on 9 December 2018, with the jury in the case awarding her over €248,000 in damages.

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McGregor, who has previously shared far-right talking points online, is understood to be considering a future in politics. He often adds the hashtag #VoteMcGregor to his posts on social media.

A whole imperial army couldn’t do it, you think a bunch of weaklings importing a bunch of wasters can do it? Think again.
IRELAND FOREVER 🇮🇪 #VoteMcGregor

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) January 20, 2025

Trump is due to be inaugurated at around 5pm Irish time.

McGregor, Hegseth and Farage are all expected to attend. So too are Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Dana White.

White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), was earlier this month elected to the board of Meta, Zuckerberg’s company which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.

McGregor recently confirmed he plans to make a UFC comeback in June. 

Contains reporting from © AFP 2025