Conor McGregor’s wild 2022 included Lamborghini yacht holidays, partying with celebrities, epic body transformation, Road House film, arrest, a few court appearances and possible Paul McGrath fight

Conor McGregor has had a busy 12 months despite the fact he spent the entirety of 2022 sidelined with a fractured tibia and fibula.

Even though Notorious has been unable to compete since July 2021, the Dubliner remains the biggest draw in MMA and has been making headlines all year while documenting his road to recovery, which has been eventful, to say the least.

The 34-year-old has spent a lot of 2022 aboard his Lamborghini Tecnomar 63 after waiting almost a full year to take ownership of his $4million (£2.9million) ‘superyacht’.

McGregor’s young family quickly took to a life at sea and spent several months traveling around on what appears to be their prized possession which was often situated in the South of France.

While life at sea may not seem to lend itself to an elite-level athletic career, McGregor made it work and was able to continue his recovery process while some much-needed family time.

The MMA legend shared every inch of his summer at sea and can be accused of oversharing after posting steamy videos with his long-time partner, Dee Devlin, including what many assumed was a sex tape from his new boat.

When he wasn’t spending time with his fiancée and kids sailing around the world, McGregor was mingling with celebrities, which hasn’t always gone well for him in the past.

In 2021, the 34-year-old tried to attack Machine Gun Kelly at the MTV VMA Awards after the rapper allegedly refused to take a picture with him and things got heated.

However, this year, McGregor has much better behaved while partying with a bunch of famous faces, including popstar Kylie Minogue, actor Jared Leto, and football legend Ian Wright.

The former dual-weight UFC champion even spent a couple of months working alongside Hollywood superstar Jake Gyllenhaal on the set of Amazon Prime’s remake of the 1980s classic, Road House.

McGregor welcomed a bunch of big names such as Paddy Pimblett, Dan Bilzerian, and Kevin Hart to his Dublin Pub, The Black Forge Inn, which became a celebrity hotspot in 2022.

Although he wasn’t always in town to meet his famous patrons, McGregor would often hop on a FaceTime call with them, and he even settled the bill when ‘The Baddy’ came to town.

Over the years, McGregor has had several run-ins with the law but this year he managed to stay out of trouble, for the most part.

Back in March, the mixed martial arts icon was arrested in west Dublin while driving his £140,000 Bentley Continental GT which was temporarily seized by Gardai following the incident.

McGregor has made several trips to court after being hit with six charges, including driving without insurance and a licence, failing to produce a certificate of insurance or licence, and careless driving

The case is still ongoing, and McGregor is next due in court on January 11.

As well as an ongoing issue with the law, the 22-6 fighter has been in court for another reason this year, primarily to do with his bitter dispute with a former training partner.

Artem Lobov told talkSPORT about his pivotal role in setting up Proper Twelve Irish Whiskey before being pushed out of the business when it made McGregor millions.

In 2021, the company was sold for $600million and made McGregor the richest athlete on the planet but Lobov believes he is owed money from the deal.

The 36-year-old recently launched a lawsuit claiming he is owed five per cent of the money his former friend made – $180million (£151million) – and the matter will now be dealt with in court.

However, McGregor would prefer to settle it the old-fashioned way and has been constantly bashing Lobov on social media for what he views as disloyalty.

This has resulted in the retired fighter launching another lawsuit against his old training partner who he has also accused of defamation during the collapse of one of MMA’s favourite bromances.

Once again, this issue will drag into 2023 and McGregor will seemingly make several trips to court next year, alongside at least a couple of trips to the UFC octagon.

All of this has been going on while McGregor has been working away ahead of his return to action that will take place in the welterweight division.

Mystic Mac has undergone an epic body transformation that has seen him pack on a ton of muscle as he prepares to mix it with the likes of Leon Edwards, Jorge Masvidal, Kamaru Usman, and Khamzat Chimaev at 170lbs.

In fact, McGregor has got so big that some of his UFC colleagues have questioned how he’s actually managed it.

Anthony Smith, Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier have all publicly suggested – without evidence – the UFC’s biggest star is using performance-enhancing substances during his injury layoff.

McGregor’s UFC colleagues have all pointed to the fact the Irishman has not been drug tested in 2022 after exiting the United States Anti-Doping (USADA) testing pool to focus on his recovery.

It’s expected McGregor will take two drug tests in February before booking a comeback opponent, but he will need a UFC exemption to do this.

USADA wants him to submit six months of samples before he is allowed to compete again if they get their wish McGregor’s next fight will be drastically delayed.

And he ended 2022 by showing he is willing to stand up to anyone who tries to insult him when he responded to a quip by Irish comedian PJ Gallagher.

That then led to him challenging Gallagher and former Ireland international Paul McGrath to a 2vs1 fight for charity, though he later pointed out there’s no beef and any issue can be sorted over a cuppa.

Have we forgotten anything? Roll on 2023 and a return to the cage…