State drops arena sex-assault case involving world famous MMA fighter Conor McGregor
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After a four-month investigation that included interviews with several witnesses, the alleged victim’s friend and the viewing of surveillance video, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said Wednesday it was ending a sexual assault probe into one of the world’s most popular mixed martial arts fighters.
Conor McGregor, a two-time world champion who held belts in several different weight classes, was cleared of any wrongdoing with a woman who claimed he sexually assaulted her in the men’s room of a private club at the Kesaya Center during Game 4 of the Miami Heat’s Finals run last June.
“The crime of sexual battery requires the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim did not consent to the sexual activity,” the four-page closeout memo concluded. “Based on the witness statements and other evidence available in the case, the state would not be able to meet this burden in this case.”
In June, the woman, who the Miami Herald has not named, told Miami police that shortly after Game 4 against the Denver Nuggets ended, McGregor, 35 — who she had spent time with in a VIP lounge during the game — “aggressively” kissed her, “shoved his tongue” down her throat and forced her to have oral sex with her inside the bathroom as security guards blocked the public from the entrance.
Video obtained by TMZ showed McGregor leading the woman into the bathroom. It also shows the two in a crowded area with music playing and people shouting. Someone cries “Oh, my God” as McGregor leads a woman, whose face is blurred, to the bathroom.
McGregor, through his attorney Barbara Llanes, denied the allegations and called it “a shakedown.” The Miami Heat, who said they were aware of the alleged incident, declined to comment.
State prosecutors, according to the four-page close-out memo, couldn’t come close to confirming the woman’s story. In fact, several witnesses, including a friend who accompanied the woman into the bathroom, said nothing appeared out of the ordinary when the two went into a stall together and the woman didn’t seem fazed or make any complaints after leaving it and going back to the club.
“The friend did not hear any signs of struggle or force. When the victim exited, she did not tell her friend anything had happened. ... On the way home the victim did not say anything about being sexually assaulted and even called her mother to tell her she had met Conor McGregor,” investigators said in the report.
Yet on June 11, two days after the game, the woman walked into Miami police headquarters downtown and asked officers if they thought “Mr. McGregor would like to “settle” or “pay her off” if she did not press charges. Then the next day she showed up again, telling police he walked in on her in a stall and tried to sexually assault her.
Reached Wednesday afternoon, the woman’s former attorney Ariel Mitchell said she parted ways with the woman a few weeks after the alleged incident. The woman who accused McGregor of rape could not be reached Wednesday.
McGregor, one of the world’s most popular mixed martial arts fighters, is originally from Ireland. He won the UFC title in 2015 and 2016, becoming the first fighter to hold UFC title belts in different weight classes, according to the UFC website.
McGregor has been accused of sexual assault overseas, but hasn’t faced punishment, the Miami Herald has reported. In 2021, a woman sued McGregor in Ireland for allegedly raping her at a hotel penthouse three years earlier, The New York Times reported.
He was also arrested in March 2019 in Miami Beach after police said he smashed a fan’s phone outside the Fontainebleau hotel. Those charges were later reduced and a civil suit was dropped.
