Conor McGregor responds after losing sexual assault appeal, calls civil court process a ‘shake down’

McGregor wrote a lengthy statement laying out his side of the story in the Nikita Hand case, claiming he is innocent and will continue to fight.

Ryan Harkness breaks down daily mixed martial arts (MMA) news, providing unique context to stories that only 15 years of obsessing over the sport can provide, having worked for FOX Sports, Yahoo! Sports, UPROXX, MSN, Bleacher Report, HDNet and CagePotato, among others, before joining MMAmania.com in 2017.

Conor McGregor is not happy that his appeal of a civil court’s sexual assault conviction has been denied.

The Irish sports star was not present in court when a panel of judges struck down his attempt to re-adjudicate the case — he’s on his yacht off the coast of Italy. But he did take the time to write a lengthy response to the court’s decision. The result of that decision? More legal fees for him to pay to victim Nikita Hand, a new civil lawsuit that is being launched by Hand against McGregor, and a potential perjury case for presenting false evidence in his appeal.

McGregor was repeatedly warned by the court not to make statements that could be considered litigating his case in public. Now that the case is officially over, he’s laying out his version of events that his lawyers failed to effectively communicate to a civil jury that found him guilty last year.

“Some say the case never went criminal because there was ‘lack of evidence’ that is not the case,” McGregor wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “It is the opposite! There was so much evidence! They had HOURS OF FOOTAGE OF THE ‘VICTIM’ AFTER THE SUPPOSED ATTEMPTED MURDER AND RAPE OF HER. Partying away, messaging away. Leaving the hotel / coming back etc. up and down, in the lobby of the hotel, absolutely everywhere and back. And twice. Not a f—king bother.”

“Smiling, laughing, dancing, kissing, biting, play fighting. It’s some watch. I was home HOURS and this is all going on. All seen CLEARLY with ALL THE CCTV FOOTAGE, and backed up by MULTIPLE EYE WITNESSES. I wasn’t even allowed to introduce crucial evidence that was a part of the criminal investigation / decision to bin it. It’s been some eye opener this entire process, I tell you that good folks.”

McGregor’s appeal largely rested on new testimony from neighbors of Nikita Hand that claimed they witnessed her being assaulted by her partner the evening after she was with McGregor. That testimony was withdrawn from the appeal at the last second, and a judge reviewing the evidence said there was no legitimate reason for that other than questions regarding their legitimacy.

“I believed their claim, as portions of it was verified through the response affidavit to it,” McGregor wrote. “Stephen Redmond burst out the door and skidded off after they had their fight. This part was verified in the response affidavit. For the witnesses to guess this exit would be impossible [in my opinion]. The beginning of the fight was also verified on video record when Nikita assaulted Stephen and Stephen told her to stop hitting him. Nikita then got aggressive and said ‘I won’t f—king stop,’ it’s all there on the recording.”

“Then the recording stops. What happened after? It just ended after that? Little calm exit? The witnesses said they seen what happened after. Where was Stephen in the ambulance? And ever again after that? It’s obvious they had a major, major fight!”

“Why these two witnesses were not called, I will never know,” he wrote. “It was on the very morning of. They were present and very eager to testify. It seemed they were pulled out of fear from my appointed team to be honest. For what I don’t know. These people said they seen something, let us all hear. If it’s legit, great, it sounds very legit to me. If it’s not, it’s on them.”

It sounds like McGregor needs to have a talk with his legal team, who would explain it is very much on him if he puts forward evidence that isn’t ‘legit.’ Even though he’s lost his appeal and now faces more legal complications related to his conduct through the court process, McGregor suggested the legal battle was not over.

“I am happy this is still ongoing,” he declared. “Hopefully we hear from all. I fight on with the truth and will continue to defend myself. Ireland, amidst this SHAKE DOWN don’t let it distract you. You can see what I am up against here and we knew this would always be the case. WE FIGHT ON!”