A ZIMBABWEAN BUSINESSMAN who owns a care company that has been embroiled in controversy in Ireland has initiated High Court proceedings against Conor McGregor.

Gerard Chimbganda, whose company Good People Homecare reportedly falsified garda background checks of its employees, filed court papers against the MMA fighter on Wednesday.

He is being represented by Cork-based firm RDJ.

The Irish Times reported extensively last year on issues surrounding Good People, which operates emergency accommodation for children in care in Co Meath.

Reports about the business losing Tusla and Department of Justice contracts last August were subsequently shared by McGregor, who posted an image featuring Chimbganda on social media with a caption that made unfounded allegations of criminality.

The post has been seen by more than 125,000 people and been shared hundreds of times in the 12 months since it was published.

Chimbganda launched High Court proceedings against McGregor just days before the one-year deadline for him to take a defamation case expired.

An individual who sues for defamation in Ireland is normally required to make a claim within a year of the allegedly defamatory statement being published.

The Journal has contacted Chimbganda for comment, though no response was received by the time of publication.

McGregor has been involved in a number of civil cases in the Irish courts in recent years.

In 2024, he was deemed liable for sexually assaulting Nikita Hand in the Beacon Hotel on 9 December 2018, with the jury in the case awarding Hand over €248,000 in damages.

Last year, he was also ordered to pay her legal costs, estimated to be around €1.3 million.

In April, he settled a separate case involving his former sparring partner and friend Artem Lobov over an alleged agreement relating to the whiskey brand Proper No Twelve.