Conor McGregor charged with assault stemming from bar fight in April
Former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor faces assault charges for punching a man in April in a bar fight in Dublin.
According to The Independent, McGregor faces a punishments of up to six months in prison and/or a fine of €1,500. He is expected to appear before a judge on Oct. 11.
McGregor was caught on tape punching a man in his 50s in the face at the Marble Arch pub on April 6. The incident allegedly started because the man would not try McGregor's whiskey, after which point the fighter heatedly exchange words with him and punched him in the face.
Reports from the Irish Mirror indicate that at least one patron taunted him earlier in the night because of his UFC lightweight title loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018, which likely riled him up.
McGregor has since apologized for the incident, when he sat down for an interview with ESPN's Ariel Helwani. He said that he had reached out and made amends with the man, although that hasn’t stopped charges from being filed.
“I was in the wrong. I have to realize that’s not the attitude or behavior of a leader, of a martial artist or a champion,” McGregor said. “I must get my head screwed on, get back in the game and fight for redemption, retribution, respect, the things that made me the man I am. That’s what I will do.”
Will McGregor fight again in UFC?
McGregor hasn’t fought in UFC since that fateful loss to Nurmagomedov, and he tweeted in March that he was retiring from mixed martial arts. However, that sounds a lot like Antonio Brown’s “You can’t fire me, I quit!” line.
The 31-year-old did tell Helwani that he would likely never fully retire from competition, and he still is considered one of the better fighters. UFC’s official website still ranks him as the No. 3 lightweight and No. 12 overall fighter pound-for-pound.
A bigger question is whether UFC and Dana White will want him back. In addition to these charges, McGregor is still under investigation for sexual assault. White did not indicate that he was likely to punish McGregor if he did return, but that was also before charges were filed.
“When you deal with fighters, guys who fight for a living, there’s always something,” White said, via MMAFighting.com. “If you look at some of the greatest [fighters], [Mike] Tyson, what Tyson went through at his peak. Every time you take a guy who is a professional fighter and you sprinkle a ton of money on top of it, get ready.
“Get ready for a disaster. Literally a disaster.”
More from Yahoo Sports:
