By Dayo Ade Olusola | M10News | Crime News | 31 July 2025
Conor McGregor has lost his appeal against a civil jury’s decision that found he sexually assaulted a woman in a Dublin hotel in 2018.
The former UFC champion had attempted to overturn a ruling requiring him to pay £206,000 in damages to 35-year-old Nikita Hand, who accused him of violently raping and strangling her in a penthouse suite at a south Dublin hotel.
Following the decision, Ms Hand was embraced by supporters in Dublin’s Court of Appeal after the judges dismissed McGregor’s appeal on all five grounds.
Ms Hand later said McGregor’s appeal had retraumatised her but expressed relief that the case had now concluded.
“To every survivor out there, I know how hard it is, but please don’t be silenced. You deserve to be heard, you also deserve justice,” she said. “Today I can finally move on and try to heal.”
McGregor’s legal team had argued that the jury should not have been shown video footage of his ‘no comment’ responses during Garda questioning on the night of the alleged assault.
(Credits: Niall Carson/PA Wire)
At the time of the incident in December 2018, McGregor was at the peak of his notoriety, having achieved global fame through the UFC and a high-profile boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr. that reportedly earned him $130 million.
Ms Hand, a hair colourist from Goatstown, testified that she knew McGregor from social circles in south Dublin.
During the civil trial, she described how the evening unfolded. “He started to try to kiss me. He was rubbing my face. I knew what he was looking for… I didn’t want to have sex. I was there to have a party and to have a good time.”
According to her testimony, McGregor persisted despite her refusal. “He just wouldn’t take no for an answer. He pinned me to the bed. He kept telling me ‘Relax, baby, relax’ and rubbing my face.”
She said she attempted to de-escalate the situation by referencing McGregor’s long-term partner, Dee Devlin.
“But he pinned me down to the bed and pressed his whole body down on top of me, and I couldn’t breathe. I had my two arms up,” she told the court.
“I couldn’t move, I couldn’t breathe. The more I tried to get away or orstrugglel,e the more he liked it.”
Fearing she was “going to die” while being choked, Ms Hand said she stopped resisting.
“I just let him do whatever he decided to do after that, so I could survive.”
McGregor maintained throughout that the encounter was consensual, but the jury found him civilly liable for the assault.
The jury awarded Ms Hand €248,603 in damages. McGregor was also ordered to cover approximately €1.3 million in legal costs following the trial in November.
McGregor’s legal appeal cited several grounds, including new evidence from a former neighbour of Ms Hand, Samantha O’Reilly, who claimed she had witnessed a physical altercation between Ms Hand and her then-partner around the time of the alleged rape.
However, earlier this month, McGregor’s legal team formally withdrew that part of their appeal and chose not to rely on the affidavit in court.
On Thursday, the Court of Appeal, comprised of Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, Mr Justice Brian O’Moore and Mr Justice Patrick MacGrath, unanimously rejected the appeal.
Mr Justice O’Moore, delivering the judgment, explained the panel’s reasoning behind dismissing each of the five appeal grounds in turn.
“I therefore dismiss the appeal in its entirety,” he concluded.
Editing by M10News Legal Desk | Contact: info@m10news.com
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