Irish MMA superstar Conor McGregor finds himself ensnared in a serious scandal once again, with allegations of sexually assaulting a woman at the NBA Finals Game 4 in Miami, Florida. McGregor, a former two-division UFC champion, has been the target of such allegations before, but these new charges put him under a harsher spotlight.
Details released by TMZ Sports reveal that the incident allegedly occurred in the wake of the Denver Nuggets' 108-95 victory on June 9 at the Kaseya Center in Florida. On the same night, McGregor was a key player in the halftime show, featuring in a skit where he 'knocked out' Bernie, the Miami Heat mascot.
Ariel Mitchell, the attorney representing the victim, sent demand letters to McGregor, and some excerpts of these letters were made public by TMZ Sports.
In these letters, Mitchell described how McGregor "brutally sexually assaulted" a woman in a men's restroom later that evening. Mitchell's account further alleged that NBA and Heat security assisted in separating the woman from her friend and forced her into the restroom where McGregor and his bodyguard were already present.
In a more detailed account of the alleged incident, Mitchell claimed that security prevented the woman from exiting the restroom and barred anyone, including her friend, from entering. McGregor is accused of forcibly kissing the woman, followed by an alleged forced oral sex act. Mitchell's account then describes McGregor as pinning the woman against a wall and attempting to sodomize her, with the woman escaping after elbowing McGregor several times.
The woman is reportedly seeking settlements from the NBA, the Heat, and McGregor as an alternative to litigation.
McGregor's team, led by Barbara R. Llanes, refuted the allegations on the "The MMA Hour" podcast. The representative stated, "The allegations are false. Mr. McGregor will not be intimidated."
This allegation could not have surfaced at a more inopportune time for McGregor, as he and his fiancé, Dee Devlin, are awaiting the birth of their fourth child, a fact he shared on the June 18 episode of Live with Kelly and Mark.
Despite being one of UFC's biggest stars, McGregor has been no stranger to controversy. His rap sheet includes two prior sexual assault allegations, as well as various public altercations with figures like Machine Gun Kelly and Italian TV presenter Francesco Facchinetti, and an incident involving a 42-year-old woman in Ibiza, Spain.
According to TMZ Sports, the NBA, Heat, and UFC are conducting their independent investigations into the allegations.