A woman is accusing Conor McGregor of committing sexual assault and battery against her during Game 4 of the NBA Finals at the Miami Heat’s home arena, Kaseya Center.
In demand letters sent to the UFC star, as well as the Heat and NBA, an attorney for the woman alleged that security staffers for the league, team and arena “aided and abetted” McGregor by trapping and isolating her in a bathroom.
McGregor, through an attorney, denied the allegations Thursday. The NBA and Heat said they were looking into the allegations.
Miami-based attorney Ariel E. Mitchell said in the demand letters, dated Monday, that the alleged assault occurred after the June 9 game, in which the Denver Nuggets defeated the Heat en route to a five-game series win for the NBA championship. As the letters noted, McGregor took part in a skit during the game, on the floor of the arena, in which he knocked down the Heat’s mascot with a pair of hard-looking punches.
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McGregor is then accused of having “elevated his aggressive, unprovoked and outrageous behavior” by “violently sexually assaulting and battering” the unidentified woman in a men’s bathroom at the arena.
Mitchell wrote that the woman was “physically forced” by the security staffers into the bathroom, which had the effect of “separating her from her friend and trapping her inside” with McGregor and his security guard. NBA, Heat and arena staffers were also accused of refusing to let her out of the bathroom or to let anyone else in, including the woman’s friend.
Inside the bathroom, McGregor is accused of having emerged from a disability-accessible stall and “aggressively kissed” the woman. When she momentarily stopped him by saying she had to urinate, per the letters, he waited until she was preparing to do so and then attempted to force her to engage in oral sex. She pushed McGregor off her and attempted to exit, the letters said, only for him to force her against a wall and pull her pants down, ripping the garment’s elastic waistband. He is then alleged to have tried to sodomize her before the woman was able to escape after repeatedly elbowing him.
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“Mr. McGregor has been accused multiple times of battery, assault and sexual violence by others in foreign countries,” Mitchell wrote, “so of course Mr. McGregor thought he could continue with this violent and egregious behavior while a visitor in the United States.”
“The allegations are false. Mr. McGregor will not be intimidated,” said Barbara R. Llanes, a Miami-based attorney, in a statement provided to The Washington Post via a public relations and crisis management firm.
“We are aware of the allegations and are conducting a full investigation,” the Heat said. “Pending the outcome of the investigation, we will withhold further comment.”
An NBA spokesman said the league was “working with the team to gather more information.”
The demand letter to the NBA said that whereas the league had “a duty to its invited guests in its arenas to protect them from violent assaults,” its security “aided a known predator in perpetrating violence at an NBA Finals venue.”
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Mitchell told The Post via email that when her client went to the police Sunday, she was told to hire legal counsel before filing a report. Mitchell said the report was filed Wednesday, and the attorney shared a photo of a bag of clothing she said her client turned over to law enforcement for forensic analysis. Miami police did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment.
On Friday morning TMZ published a video that appears to show McGregor taking his accuser’s hand and leading her into a bathroom at Kaseya Center on the night of the incident. Llanes, McGregor’s lawyer, released a new statement, saying in part: “After the video was released by TMZ, the claimant’s lawyer now has changed her story. Mr. McGregor welcomes the investigation, which he firmly believes will show the claims against him are false.”
Mitchell, the accuser’s lawyer, said, “My client was under the belief they were leaving and going to the Four Seasons Hotel, as Conor had previously asked her to join him at his hotel room,” according to TMZ. “My client believed they were leaving, but instead Conor took her into the restroom.”
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One of the biggest stars in the history of mixed martial arts, McGregor is a two-time UFC champion whose most recent fight was a knockout loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021. The 34-year-old Ireland native broadened his combat-sports reach in 2017 with a lucrative boxing match against Floyd Mayweather that Mayweather won by 10th-round technical knockout.
The UFC said Thursday it will “continue to gather additional details regarding the incident.” The MMA body added it will “allow the legal process to play out before making any additional statements.”
McGregor has previously been accused of rape and other violent acts against women, including assaults alleged to have occurred in 2018 and 2019 in his hometown of Dublin. Earlier this year, he reportedly was accused of attacking a woman while on his yacht, which was docked in Ibiza, Spain.
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McGregor was also arrested in New York in 2018 after storming into Barclays Center with some cohorts ahead of UFC 223 and attacking a bus carrying UFC fighters and staff members, resulting in injuries. Several months later, he was involved in a massive brawl at UFC 229 in Las Vegas that erupted just after he lost in the octagon to Khabib Nurmagomedov. In 2019, McGregor punched a man in the face at a Dublin pub and was subsequently fined 1,000 euros after he pleaded guilty to an assault charge.
A demand letter, such as the one Mitchell sent this week to McGregor, is a legal complaint that can be used to open a negotiation with an eye toward a settlement or to establish a paper trail ahead of possible further action.
The letters to McGregor, the NBA and the Heat said they were being sent “in anticipation of litigation.” Mitchell went on to note in them that “a lengthy, public litigation” could “encourage other victims and witnesses to come forward.”
“This firm has been instructed to explore all reasonable settlement offers,” the attorney wrote, “to resolve these claims before they escalate further.”
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