Conor McGregor found responsible for 2018 assault on woman in Dublin: Report

A civil jury in Ireland found UFC fighter Conor McGregor liable for sexual assault on Friday and awarded the woman who accused him of rape nearly 250,000 euros ($257,000), according to the Associated Press.

A 12-person jury at the High Court in Dublin handed down the verdict after six hours of deliberation, the AP reported. The woman accused McGregor of raping her at a Dublin hotel on Dec. 9, 2018, and said the assault after a night of partying left her bruised and caused her to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the AP.

McGregor denied the charges and testified that he never forced the woman to do anything against her will. McGregor said the two had consensual sex, according to the AP.

McGregor did not comment as he left the courtroom. Attorneys for both McGregor and the woman did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Athletic.

The woman made a brief statement outside court Friday.

“To all the victims of sexual assault, I hope my story is a reminder that no matter how scared you may be, you speak up, you have a voice and you keep fighting for justice,” she said. according to the BBC. “I know this has impacted not only my life, my daughter’s, my family and friends’ lives tremendously and it’s something I will never forget for the rest of my life. But now that justice has been served, I can now try to move on and look forward to the future with my family and friends and daughter.”

In court, the woman testified that McGregor put her in a chokehold and threatened to kill her during the incident, according to the AP. Her lawyer said McGregor was angry over a fight he lost in Las Vegas in October 2018.

McGregor said in his testimony that the woman’s story was untrue.

McGregor is not facing criminal charges in the case. Police investigated, but prosecutors declined to press charges, the AP reported.

McGregor lost that fight in 2018 to Khabib Nurmagomedov, who choked McGregor. The caustic atmosphere surrounding the bout sparked a melee outside the octagon immediately after it finished, eventually leading to suspensions for both Nurmagomedov and McGregor. Since then, the 36-year-old McGregor fought three times in the UFC. His scheduled fight against Michael Chandler in June was canceled due to an injury that McGregor later said “required more time to heal than I had available.”

McGregor, the former two-division champion, has not fought since breaking his leg in the first round of a loss to Dustin Poirier in 2021. He has not won a fight since January 2020.

The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Photo: David Fitzgerald / Sportsfile via Getty Images)