Conor McGregor will not face criminal charges for an alleged sexual assault in Miami.
On Tuesday, TMZ Sports reported that prosecutors declined to go forward with an indictment against the former two division UFC champion after feeling there was “insufficient evidence” to secure a conviction.
Conor McGregor was accused of “violently” raping a woman at Miami’s Kaseya Center on June 9. Ariel Mitchell, the South Florida based attorney for the accuser, wrote a letter to McGregor, the Miami Heat and the NBA stating that the 35-year-old used venue security to separate her from a friend and forcing her into a men’s room with McGregor.
According to Mitchell’s letter, Conor McGregor forced the woman to perform oral sex on him until she was able to strike him and flee the scene. After discovering her purse was left behind, Mitchell wrote that she begged McGregor’s security to return it to her.
The alleged incident occurred following an NBA Finals game in which Conor McGregor made a promotional courtside appearance.
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Days after the accusations made headlines, a pair of videos from the night in question were released that contradict the story told by Mitchell’s letter. In one taken by a cell phone inside the arena, McGregor is shown leading the woman to the restroom while holding hands. A second woman, who is holding her wrist, walks off to the side and does not enter the restroom while security blocks the area off.
A second video, taken later in the evening at a nightclub in the arena, shows McGregor holding a drink while speaking with the woman until he walks away.
In the memo that declared the case closed, prosecutors also noted that the accuser asked investigators if she could pursue a financial settlement with McGregor in lieu of pressing criminal charges.
The document also mentioned an attendant who did not hear “any signs of distress or sounds that would corroborate that whatever was occurring was not consensual” after watching the two enter the bathroom stall together.
Representatives for Conor McGregor maintain his innocence in a statement calling the allegations false and saying the Irish superstar “will not be intimidated.”
Eventful Night for Conor McGregor
Earlier that same night, McGregor participated in a mid-game staged confrontation with “Burnie,” the Miami Heat mascot. The pair of punches the former champion landed reportedly sent Burnie to the emergency room.
McGregor has not competed in the Octagon since suffering a broken leg in a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 and removing himself from the USADA testing pool. Just last week, he reentered the USADA testing pool but indirectly caused the unraveling of the UFC’s long-standing partnership with the independent anti-doping bureau.
