Clad in a tiny, red, string bikini and beaming with a megawatt smile, there was just a sliver of space between Katie Price and her dance partner.

However, it wasn’t her young boyfriend JJ Slater partying with her under the Spanish sunshine at the exclusive O Beach club in Ibiza, but Conor McGregor, the engaged UFC fighter.

During a hedonistic spell on the Balearic island in June, wild yacht parties unfolded, dancefloor conflicts erupted, and a very close connection between the glamour model and the sportsman was solidified. A connection, I’ve been told, that drew quite a few surprised glances on the White Isle.

While Katie’s boyfriend of 18 months, JJ, stayed back in the UK, and before Conor’s partner Dee Devlin flew over to join him, sources mention that the duo hit it off splendidly, bonding over their shared lifestyles and passion for enjoying life. 

‘Katie and Conor got along famously,’ one source reported. ‘They really connected in Ibiza; both have faced some difficult times in recent years, so they likely had a lot to discuss.’

‘Conor hosted an incredible party, and we all know how much Katie enjoys a good time. They had an amazing time together. Everyone was talking about it – it was the talk of the party.’

As well as hanging out at the VIP event alongside Wayne Lineker and Dean Gaffney, Katie, 47, also joined Conor, 37, for a party on the yacht he had chartered, which turned into an alcohol-fuelled, three-day event.

The emergence of this close friendship – displayed for the world to see in a series of Instagram snaps and effusive comments – left some with their noses out of joint, namely reality TV personality, JJ.

Katie Price and Conor McGregor pose for a photo together in Ibiza

The Married At First Sight star, 32, was deeply unimpressed when Conor posted a photo of himself cuddling up to a bikini-clad Katie to his 47 million followers.

And, to add insult to injury, the Irish fighter made it clear that it wasn’t just a casual run-in with the star, intimately captioning the photos: ‘@Katieprice forever.’

For her part, Katie did little to downplay the connection, sharing the photo on her own account and describing her friend as a ‘legend’.

‘The next thing JJ unfollows Conor. It all seems a bit over the top to do that just because Katie made friends with him,’ says our source.

Despite his public show of disapproval in unfollowing Conor, JJ and Katie have remained together and appear to have put the issue behind them.

While he wasn’t present in Ibiza, JJ and Conor met in person earlier this year when he travelled to Ireland with Katie.

The glamour girl is said to have introduced her boyfriend to Conor when they visited his pub, having already established a friendship.

In the meantime, Conor seems to be unfazed by the fallout from his Instagram photo and had other problems to deal with as his trip to Ibiza took a violent turn.

Just one day after cosying up to Katie, the former UFC champion was embroiled in a physical fight with another party goer at Pacha nightclub in the early hours of the morning.

A video taken on June 17 by a fellow reveller showed the controversial star throwing punches at an unnamed man at 6am.

He was later spotted sporting a red mark under his eye as he soaked up the sun on his yacht. Some days later he was joined by partner Dee and their children.

Following his week of debauchery, Conor settled down for a family holiday and they hopped from Ibiza over to Mallorca.

Back in the UK, Katie has been focusing on her health and this week told fans she had become slightly concerned by the fact she had lost so much weight recently.

In a post on Snapchat, she told her followers that she ‘didn’t know why’ she’d been losing weight, denying that she has been using weight loss jabs.

JJ Slater and Katie Price at the Paralympic Games launch in London in 2024

‘I’ve been up early at the doctors so she could do some bloods and because my veins are so s*** they had three attempts,’ she said.

‘They could only fill two tubes up, so I’ve got to go back in two weeks.’

The mother-of-five started a relationship with JJ, who is 16 years her junior, in February last year, and while they are yet to take the next step and move in together, they seem to have moved on from the events of the summer.

JJ rose to fame when he appeared on the Channel 4 dating show in 2023 where he controversially swapped the bride he had been paired with for another.

He met Katie soon after and, following the breakdown of her relationship with Carl Woods, the pair struck up a romantic relationship.

The clothing brand owner has stuck by Katie during a tumultuous few months, during which a number of her exes have taken public swipes at her.

Peter Andre, 52, to whom she was married from 2005 to 2009, recently released a social media statement saying he wanted to ‘set the record straight’ about a 2019 court order that brought their two children under his care.

He accused Katie of ‘baseless accusations’ and ‘lies’ in the wake of the ruling, which saw Junior, 20, and Princess, 18, come to live with him.

Katie said she was ‘very, very upset’ to have not been included in her daughter’s debut reality show The Princess Diaries, which aired earlier this year, claiming she had offered to take part in it for no fee but was turned down.

Alex Reid, 50, who was Katie’s husband from 2010-2012, also took aim at his ex-wife by releasing a video of her which appeared to show her counting wads of cash soon after she declared herself bankrupt in 2019.

While seemingly dodging bullets from all corners, Katie appears to still have the unwavering support of her devoted boyfriend – if he can refrain from picking a fight with her new friend Conor.