UFC star Conor McGregor has three weeks to decide on plea in pub assault case
FORMER UFC champion Conor McGregor has three weeks to decide on a plea after being accused of assaulting a man in a Dublin pub.
The mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter came before Dublin District Court to face an allegation that he punched a man in his 50s in a bar in the south west of the city.
Mr McGregor (31), originally from Dublin but with an address at Ladycastle, Straffan, Co Kildare, is accused of assaulting Desmond Keogh.
The offence is alleged to have happened at the Marble Arch pub, Benbulbin Road, Drimnagh, on April 6, 2019.
Mr McGregor arrived at the Criminal Courts of Justice yesterday morning in a black BMW with blacked-out rear windows.
He was flanked by two minders as he made his way inside, past a throng of journalists and photographers.
Defence solicitor Michael Staines said there was consent to the case being adjourned for disclosure of prosecution documents to the defence.
Garda Jason O’Carroll told Judge Keane disclosure would include CCTV footage. Judge Keane adjourned the case to November 1.
The alleged offence is under Section 2 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, and carries a maximum prison term of six months on conviction, or a fine, or both.
The allegation is of a simple assault not involving any injury, rather than the more serious charge of assault causing harm.
Video footage that appeared to show Mr McGregor punching a man in the face in the pub emerged in August.
Mr McGregor – nicknamed The Notorious – has come before the courts several times in recent years on a range of charges.
On July 26 last year, he escaped a criminal conviction in New York over a fracas at a UFC promo event at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn.
Mr McGregor has previously been banned from driving for six months and fined for speeding in Irish courts.
In May this year, Mr McGregor had charges dropped over the alleged robbery of a fan’s phone during an incident in Florida.