Conor McGregor’s Black Forge Inn was targeted on Wednesday evening.
Conor McGregor’s Dublin pub, The Black Forge Inn, was reportedly attacked on Wednesday night by assailants who threw petrol bombs at the premises (per TMZ). Police say there were also two pipe bombs left outside the bar’s entrance.
TMZ were told that McGregor was not at the location when this incident took place. “No one was impacted,” said a spokesperson for the former UFC champion. “The pub is open and busy as always.”
Irish authorities confirmed to TMZ that an incident did take place and that they are considering it “attempted criminal damage”. Authorities also stated that no damage was done and no one was injured. Police are now appealing for witnesses who might have seen who was responsible for the improvised explosives.
McGregor purchased the pub two years ago and has been very active in revitalizing and marketing the location. He has also been spotted at the bar on numerous occasions. Social media posts show that McGregor was at The Black Forge Inn hours before the incident on Wednesday night.
Prior to purchasing the location McGregor was a patron of the bar, which is located in his old neighbourhood of Crumlin. In 2017 McGregor was involved in a fracas at the pub and reportedly punched Graham ‘The Wig’ Whelan.
Irish tabloids have claimed that Whelan is a member of the Kinahan Organized Crime Group, an organization courts believe is lead by Daniel Kinahan—who fled to Dubai in 2016 after an unsuccessful assassination attempt during a boxing weigh-in show at Dublin’s Regency Hotel.
Last year Whelan appeared for a soccer team representing McGregor’s pub as part of a charity event.
Whelan isn’t the only alleged KOCG member who has been seen around McGregor. David Byrne, an alleged top lieutenant in that group who was killed during the Regency Hotel shooting, was once pictured with McGregor. Byrne formerly attended the same boxing gym that McGregor trained at in Crumlin.
McGregor has also been pictured with Lee Byrne (David Byrne’s nephew) and son of Liam Byrne, someone Irish press claims is a top ranking member of the KOCG. McGregor and Lee Byrne were famously pictured standing on top of rented luxury cars, much to the chagrin of the rental agency.
Last year another man who tabloids claim is involved in Dublin’s organized crime scene was involved in an incident outside McGregor’s bar. In September Andrew Murray was arrested outside The Black Forge Inn after he was accused of knocking a man unconscious and then kicking him in the head while he lay on the ground.
Murray and his brother Johnathan Murray have been described as ‘gangster brothers’ by Irish press, who claim both men have a long list of arrests related to supplying drugs. The Murray brothers have been frequently pictured with McGregor.
Some of the more notable pictures involving this trio are from the aftermath of McGregor’s infamous 2018 ‘dolly incident’ in Brookyln. Pictures on social media suggest that the Murrays were part of the entourage that flew McGregor out of New York on a private jet after he was released from jail.