Conor McGregor Forced To Pay More Than $250,000 In Damages

A woman who accused Irish mixed martial artist Conor McGregor of sexual assault won a civil lawsuit against him, forcing him to pay more than $250,000 in damages.

After the jury’s verdict in the civil case, the woman, Nikita Hand, told reporters that the verdict was “a reminder that no matter how afraid you might be, speak up, you have a voice.”

A civil court jury in Ireland awarded nearly 250,000 Euros ($257,000) on Friday to the woman who claimed that mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor “brutally raped and battered” her in a hotel penthouse in Dublin.

After a night of partying, Nikita Hand was sexually assaulted on December 9, 2018, leaving her severely bruised and afflicted with PTSD, according to Hand.

McGregor stated in his testimony that he never coerced the woman into doing anything against her will and that she made up the accusations following their consensual sexual encounter. The woman had been referred to as a gold digger by his attorney.

After roughly six hours of deliberation in the High Court in Dublin, the fighter, who was once the face of the Ultimate Fighting Championship but is now past his prime, shook his head when the jury of eight women and four men found him liable for assault.

Afterwards, McGregor announced on X that he would challenge the decision and the “modest award.”

As Hand read a statement outside the courthouse, her hands shaking and her voice cracking, she said that although she would never forget what had happened to her, she would now be able to move on with her life.

She expressed gratitude to her daughter in particular, as well as to her partner, family, friends, jurors, the judge, and all of the supporters who had contacted her online.

She was identified in public during the trial and was not given the anonymity that would have been granted in a criminal case under Irish law.

Jurors were informed by her attorney that McGregor was upset with his client because he had lost a fight in Las Vegas two months prior.

“He’s not a man, he’s a coward,” attorney John Gordon said in his closing speech. “A devious coward and you should treat him for what he is.”

The episode

Gordon claimed that after attending a Christmas party, his client messaged McGregor on Instagram, saying she was just trying to have fun and never pretended to be a saint. He claimed that Hand and McGregor had grown up in the same neighborhood and were socially acquainted.

She claimed that on the way to the Beacon Hotel, he picked her and a friend up in a car and gave them cocaine, something McGregor acknowledged in court.

According to Hand, she informed McGregor that she was menstruating and that she didn’t want to have sex with him. She claimed that after telling him “no” when he began kissing her, he pinned her to a bed, making it impossible for her to move.

McGregor put her in a chokehold and later told her, “now you know how I felt in the octagon where I tapped out three times,” referring to a UFC match when he had to admit defeat, she said.

Over the course of three days, Hand had to take multiple breaks to testify emotionally. She claimed that she feared she would never see her young daughter again after McGregor threatened to kill her during the encounter. He finally released her.

“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 testified.

She said she then let him do what he wanted and he had sex with her.

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A paramedic who examined Hand the next day testified that she had never before seen someone with that intensity of bruising. A doctor told jurors Hand had multiple injuries.

Hand said the trauma of the attack had left her unable to work as a hairdresser, she fell behind on her mortgage and had to move out of her house.

Police investigated the woman’s complaint but prosecutors declined to bring charges, saying there was insufficient evidence and a conviction was unlikely.

In his X post, McGregor expressed his disappointment that jurors were not shown all of the evidence that the prosecutors had examined.

In the meantime, Hand’s case against McGregor’s friend James Lawrence, whom she claimed had sex with her in the hotel without her consent, was decided against her by the jury.