Inside Conor McGregor’s loyal interior circle with trusted lover and ‘muddy’ fury coach

Conor McGregor’s mum and fiancée held him tightly when he doubled over and shook his head after a jury ruled he assaulted a woman in a civil court rape case.

The disgraced UFC fighter was visibly shaken and in the almost three weeks since then, his business empire has been on the rocks.

Initially he was ordered to pay Nikita Hand more than £200,000 in damages after she accused him of choking and raping her in a hotel in December 2018. In now deleted social media posts, McGregor, who denied the allegations, labelled her a “vicious liar” and said the damages were “modest”.

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But despite the brash comments, there has been a huge decline in McGregor’s brand partnerships while nearly 61,000 Instagram accounts have unfollowed him, according to BoomSocial metrics.

Dublin Airport, Wetherspoons, Tesco and Asda will will no longer sell his Forged Irish Stout and Proper No Twelve whiskey, to name just a few.

And speaking of the latter, Proximo, which took ownership of Proper No 12, also announced the MMA star would no longer be used in promotional material for the brand.

A video game developer also withdrew content featuring McGregor and his future in the fight and booze industries looks increasingly uncertain.

While company bosses are distancing themselves from the controversial athlete as thousands unfollow him on social media, the Irishman is still believed to have an estimated €300 fortune while currently having 47million Instagram followers.

And as the dominoes continue to fall, we take a look inside the 36-year-old’s inner circle to see who is sticking by the stricken man.

Family

During his civil trial, McGregor was supported by his parents Tony and Margaret. He also has two sisters called Erin and Aoife with the latter, who appeared in court, being linked to the Kinahan cartel whose war led to 18 murders.

Aoife is in a relationship with mobster Graham Whelan who was a VIP guest at a McGregor family wedding between Erin and Terry Kavanagh earlier this year. And in a show of support, brother-in-law Terry was pictured with McGregor’s entourage at the High Court during the trial.

And on the day of judgement he was joined by Dee Devlin, mother to his four children, who enjoys a life of luxury with the former UFC champion.

Despite being found responsible for assaulting Mrs Hand, Dee went public afterwards to express her loyalty to him, while slamming the victim.

Writing on Instagram, she said: “I love him I trust him and I BELIEVE HIM!”

Sharing a family snap, she added: “My man and I have created a beautiful life together. No one is entitled to comment on our relationship- we trust one another and love one another. Nothing or nobody will change that. Our family stands strong!”

Coaches

While McGregor’s family members were expected to have his back, one significant person to stand in solidarity with him at the High Court in Dublin was John Kavanagh.

The MMA coach has guided McGregor from novice to world champion fighter in multiple divisions in both Cage Warriors and the UFC.

His presence caused a stir in Ireland with many writing to him on social media asking why he was supporting the tarnished ex-champion.

One column in an Irish national newspaper even had the headline: “John Kavanagh was a man to admire. So why did he support Conor McGregor?”

Despite being harassed by social media users, Kavanagh has so far remained silent on the matter.

Another man who went to court to support McGregor was Phillip Sutcliffe – his longtime boxing coach.

McGregor was just 10 when he entered Crumlin Boxing Club in Dublin with mud trailing behind him. And remember, Sutcliffe said: “Conor came in wearing muddy football boots, so we gave him a right telling off. He asked to join and we told him to get some forms from the office for his parents, who were outside. Instead of doing that, he started punching a bag.He still hadn’t taken off the boots so we roared at him.

“That was the Friday. He came back on the Saturday and almost every day for the next seven years.”

Before the verdict, Sutcliffe was a general election candidate for the Independent Ireland party. However, after the furore over McGregor being found to have assaulted Mrs Hand, he resigned and decided to run as an independent candidate instead.

He handed in his resignation before a meeting to talk about his support for McGregor – and it was perhaps a clear sign of the repercussions of siding with the sportsman.

Politician Richard O’Donoghue, a co-founder of Independent Ireland, told The Irish Times: “Philip was approached. There was to be a further meeting today. Before the second meeting could take replace, Philip resigned from the party.”

He added: “Philip does a lot of great work with people in boxing but we do not condone his association with Conor McGregor.”