Angelina Katsanis-Pool via Imagn Images
Former UFC star Conor McGregor has filed an appeal of the guilty verdict he received for assaulting a woman named Nikita Hand in a penthouse at Dublin’s Beacon Hotel in December 2018. The jury in the case awarded Hand, according to a recent report, around $262,000 in damages.
Following the verdict, Conor McGregor wrote in a since-deleted post on X (Twitter), “I will be appealing today’s decision. The judge’s instruction and the modest award given was for assault, not for aggravated or exemplary damages. I am disappointed that the jury did not hear all the evidence that the DPP reviewed. I am with my family now, focused on my future.”
On Friday, several media outlets including the Irish Times reported that McGregor officially filed that appeal. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March 6 and will address a court order that was given to Conor McGregor.
That court order involved CCTV footage of Hand that is in the possession of McGregor. MMA Fighting reports that the judge in the case had ordered the mixed martial artist to destroy or return any copies of the footage along with a sworn statement detailing how he did so. Hand’s attorney claims McGregor has not complied with that order.
Conor McGregor submitted an affidavit to the court claiming he had deleted all copies of the footage from his phones and devices. Hand’s attorney claims the affidavit is “entirely inadequate.”
During the trial, Nikita Hand graphically described how McGregor “brutally raped and battered” her. Following the trial, McGregor claimed that any intimate relations that they had was consensual.
While Conor McGregor, who recently made news for a racist tirade, awaits a ruling on his affidavit and the appeal of his verdict, he must also deal with another lawsuit that was filed against him claiming he sexually assaulted a another woman in a bathroom at Game 4 of the 2023 NBA Finals in Miami.
McGregor denied any wrongdoing in a statement issued by his attorneys that read, “After a thorough investigation at the time, the State’s Attorney concluded that there was no case to pursue. Almost two years and at least three lawyers later the plaintiff has a new false story. We are confident that this case too will be dismissed.”