Conor McGregor was due to make the walk to the octagan for the first time in three years to fight Michael Chandler at UFC 303 later this month – before being ruled out due to an ‘injury’.
The ‘Notorious’ has not won a sanctioned bout since 2020 – but his achievements inside the cage and his antics outside it have made his family one of the most famous in Ireland.
He is the youngest child of Tony and Margaret McGregor who also had two daughters. Erin is a panto performer while Aoife is a makeup artist who in recent times was romantically linked with a cartel gangster after splitting from her husband.
READ MORE: Life of Steven Gerrard’s daughter who’s dating son of mobster linked to feared cartel
READ MORE: ‘Britain’s hardest man was a gentle giant – he kept women like me safe’
(Image: Instagram)
Who is Aoife McGregor?
Aofie, 38, has always been close to her younger brother and her profile picture on Instagram, where she has 102,000 followers, shows McGregor lifting his two UFC titles.
And in a previous post, the MMA star wrote on social media: “Happy birthday my sister @aoife.mcgregor style queen mad thing I love you so much to the moon and back, forever and always the world is yours my blood.”
She is also said to travel the world with the former champion fighter and helps babysit his four children during his various engagements.
(Image: Instagram)
The influencer, who has previously worked for a mini digger hire company, married Mark Elliot on New Year’s Eve in 2016 but the marriage collapsed four years later after both reportedly wanted different things from life.
Mark, who is a decade older and had twin daughters from a previous relationship, was a former cannabis drug dealer who was convicted after €40,000 worth of the herb was found at his home in 2009.
He had turned his life around since being sentenced to jail and speaking to the Sunday World about splitting with Aofie, he said: “It was basically to do with kids – she wanted a baby and I didn’t.”
Aofie also revealed plans to start her own beauty brand and in 2022 she said: “I’m not going to say what it is but I am bringing out my own collection. Two different collections under my name. The plan for the future is world domination. I want to do Ireland and the world.”
Cartel links
Aoife moved on from the marriage and she shared a picture alongside Irish criminal Graham ‘the Wig’ Whelan at her brother’s Black Forge Inn pub in Crumlin just days after he was released from prison in December 2022.
The picture, which she reportedly used as her WhatsApp profile picture, showed the glamorous blonde with her hands draped around the mobster’s shoulder and leg.
(Image: Instagram)
A source told the Sunday World: “It wasn’t exactly a secret that the two of them were close. But posting a picture of them together as her profile picture would suggest she’s fairly serious about him.”
Whelan had been jailed for 18 months after being convicted of money laundering offences, including possession of a €28,000 watch, for an organised crime gang. During his stint on the inside, Aoife was pictured visiting him as the pair became friends.
The gangster, said to be a close associate of leading Kinahan drug cartel member Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh, has a murky past.
He was also pals with David Byrne, who was shot dead in one of the most notorious gangland murders in Irish history. This happened inside the Regency Hotel in 2016 and was the most defining moment in the bloody Hutch-Kinahan mob feud that resulted in 18 murders.
Whelan has had various brushes with the law and after his money laundering arrest, he told officers he was a “dangerous criminal” and to “look me up”.
This was a likely reference to when he was caged for six years aged 17 after a €1.6million drug seizure at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Dublin in 2000.
Whelan was described as a senior member of the Kinahan cartel and earlier this year his bin company, which had not filed accounts since January 2020, was struck off by the Company Registration Office.
It is unknown whether Aoife and Whelan are still dating – with McGregor’s sister not posting on Instagram since August 2022.
The gangland figure has been pictured with Aofie’s brother in the past and Whelen also kitted out for the fighter’s Black Forge Inn football team in the past.