Taking a page from a commonly used playbook when people with power and money are caught doing bad things, Conor McGregor fired off a lengthy social media post Friday calling the rape accusation and legal ruling against him a “shake down.”
McGregor, a former UFC fighter, remains an adjudicated rapist in the eyes of Ireland’s civil High Court after his appeal was denied Thursday following a verdict that found him liable for a 2018 sexual assault of Nikita Hand in a Dublin hotel room.
McGregor on Friday railed against the decision by the High Court in Dublin that left him on the hook for a €250,000 verdict against him in civil court. In addition, he was ordered to pay Hand’s legal costs.
A co-defendant in the rape case, James Lawrence, also was at the heart of McGregor’s tirade because Lawrence was not allowed to recover legal costs in his own case. The court ruled that the “shrouded in mystery” arrangement between McGregor and Lawrence meant the possibility that if Hand was forced to pay Lawrence’s legal fees, Lawrence then would turn that money over to McGregor – whom it’s alleged has been paying those fees. And that, in essence, would mean that Hand, the victim, would be paying the man found liable for raping her. Lawrence’s testimony, the appeals court said in its ruling, included untruthful evidence on the stand to support McGregor.
McGregor’s social media defense Friday said he said on the stand he didn’t know if he was paying Lawrence’s legal fees or not when he was “on the stand in a world of fog being accused of a crime I didn’t commit.”
McGregor said he was cleared of rape criminally – but criminal charges were not brought against him, just the civil case.
McGregor said the process of going through this legal situation, the first of dozens of brushes with the law he’s had over the past decade, and the most high-profile of several sexual assault accusations to come to light so far, was “some eye opener.” He said he wondered “how people sleep at night” to “falsely accuse someone of rape and lose.”
McGregor also said additional witnesses would exonerate him. But on the day of his appeal that was to see that evidence brought in front of the court, McGregor and his legal team decided against presenting it. That decision likely did not help his defense in the eyes of the court, and a new report from Ireland’s national broadcast service, the RTE, said there are new possible perjury charges in the McGregor team’s future – and that Hand will be filing additional suits against McGregor to try to recover damages to her reputation and for being “retraumatized” due to McGregor’s appeal.
McGregor has said he aspires to political office in the near future and has taken up a nationalistic right-wing rallying cry similar to Donald Trump in that pursuit. Like Trump, McGregor has multiple sexual assault accusations against him, and now, like Trump, a ruling against him for one, too.
In that vein, the 37-year-old McGregor, who has four children with partner Dee Devlin, made a plea to his countrywomen and countrymen to stand with him in the wake of the mountain of civil and criminal charges against him over the years, and the civil rape and sexual assault trial that now has come home to roost.
“Ireland, amidst this SHAKE DOWN don’t let it distract you,” McGregor posted. “You can see what I am up against here and we knew this would always be the case. WE FIGHT ON!”
In Ireland, a recent poll found that only 7 percent of responders would consider voting for him for the country’s president.
McGregor’s legal team’s appeal was denied on each of the arguments that were presented for it Thursday.
Part of the new evidence presented by the McGregor side in the appeal included sworn affidavits from neighbors who said they saw Hand in a physical altercation with her partner hours prior to her encounter with McGregor. That, presumably, was to suggest Hand’s bruising was not from McGregor.
But Hand denied such an event ever took place, and McGregor’s team withdrew the evidence. The judges in the appeal, according to reports, did “not wish to speculate” as to why the evidence was not presented. Additionally, the McGregor defense in the appeal said the issue paper at the conclusion of the trial asked the jury whether McGregor “assaulted” Hand, rather than “sexually assaulted.”
The judge in the appeal said there was little doubt the jury members in the original trial were confused over Hand being “assaulted” or “sexually assaulted.” The trial judge, it was brought up, in jury instructions before their deliberations, told the members that Hand had been “violently raped” by McGregor, according to her own testimony.
McGregor’s team also hoped there might be some substance to his repeated “no comment” to initial police questioning, and that the jury members did not appropriately know that was not an admission of liability.
McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) has not fought since he broke his leg in a second straight knockout loss to Dustin Poirier more than four years ago. He was supposed to return against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June 2024, but pulled out after he broke his baby toe.
