Another ugly stain on Conor McGregor. An Irish civil jury ruled on Friday that MMA fighter was liable for sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel penthouse following a night of partying. The woman, who accused McGregor of “brutally raping and battering” her on December 9, 2018, was awarded nearly $257,000 in damages.
Horrible.
Get this, she alleged the encounter left her with severe bruising and lasting trauma, including PTSD. McGregor, however, denied the accusations, maintaining the encounter was consensual and that the woman fabricated the claims.
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Representing the woman, attorney John Gordon argued that while his client never claimed to be perfect, the night turned into a traumatic experience. Gordon suggested that McGregor, still angry from a high-profile loss in Las Vegas two months earlier, took out his frustration on her. “He’s not a man, he’s a coward,” Gordon told the jury, calling McGregor “a devious coward” and urging them to treat him as such.
That part.
TRIGGER WARNING: The woman described the attack in vivid detail, claiming that McGregor restrained her in chokeholds and made threatening comments. She said McGregor allegedly told her, “Now you know how I felt in the octagon when I tapped out three times,” referring to his UFC losses. Fearing for her life, she said she thought of her daughter, terrified she might never see her again. “He let me go and I remember saying I was sorry, as I felt that I did something wrong and I wanted to reassure him that I wouldn’t tell anyone so he wouldn’t hurt me again,” she recalled.
Expectedly, McGregor, described the encounter as intense and energetic but insisted it was not rough. He denied using a chokehold and claimed the woman never said “no” or stopped him. He dismissed the allegations as “a full-blown lie among many lies,” and rejected the idea that he would highlight his UFC defeats in such a manner, saying, “How anyone could believe that me, as a prideful person, would highlight my shortcomings.”
McGregor’s defense team, led by attorney Remy Farrell, asked jurors to set aside any personal biases against the fighter. “You may have an active dislike of him, some of you may even loathe him – there is no point pretending that the situation might be otherwise,” Farrell said. “I’m not asking you to invite him to Sunday brunch.”
What’s more, the defense also challenged the woman’s testimony, pointing out that she never mentioned McGregor threatening her life during her initial interviews with police. They presented surveillance footage showing her leaving the hotel room with McGregor, appearing to embrace him and kiss his arm. One of McGregor’s lawyers remarked that she seemed “overjoyed” in the footage. Additionally, McGregor provided a written statement during his initial police questioning but, on his lawyer’s advice, declined to answer over 100 follow-up questions.
Despite McGregor’s denial and the defense’s arguments, the jury ultimately found him liable for the sexual assault, awarding the woman compensation for her physical and emotional distress.