Conor McGregor Makes Statement Following Court Appearance, Next Hearing Set for July 26
Conor McGregor will hope to wrap up his pending court case in New York when the former two-division champion makes his next appearance on July 26.
McGregor appeared alongside his attorneys and manager Audie Attar on Thursday at a courthouse in New York where he was answered to charges connected to his assault on a bus at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn just ahead of UFC 223 in April.
McGregor and several of his friends went after the bus in an attempt to get at Khabib Nurmagomedov, who had been involved in an earlier incident with the Irishman’s friend and teammate Artem Lobov. McGregor was recorded throwing a trash can and a moving dolly that shattered the glass out of one window that ended up injuring several people.
The end result was two fighters — Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg — suffering injuries severe enough to knock them out of their fights at UFC 223 and one UFC employee being taken to the hospital.
McGregor spent the night in jail before facing three misdemeanor charges for assault and a felony charge for criminal mischief.
On Thursday, McGregor and his team appeared in court where his next hearing was scheduled for July 26 as they continue to work on a plea agreement with the District Attorney’s office.
“I regret my actions that led to today,” McGregor said in a statement after appearing in court. “I understand the seriousness of this matter and I’m hopeful this will get worked out. Thank you, everyone.”
The next step for McGregor will be negotiating a plea deal with prosecutors with hopes that this case will be wrapped up at the hearing on July 26.
It’s not expected that McGregor will do any jail time for the incident but he may face fines, community service and some sort of probation as a result of his actions.
What’s likely being negotiated is lowering the felony charge down to a misdemeanor, which is a far less severe strike that could be on his record. The good news for McGregor is the lone felony charge for crminal mischief stems from the property damage done that day in Brooklyn and so long as the former UFC champion makes good on restitution, it’s likely that charge will be dropped or reduced in a plea deal.
McGregor is supposed to meet with UFC president Dana White on June 18 to discuss his future plans with the promotion but it’s unknown if that will be delayed now that his hearing to resolve the incident in Brooklyn won’t be closed until at least July 26.
McGregor hasn’t fought in the UFC since Nov. 2016 when he defeated Eddie Alvarez to become the first ever simultaneous two-division champion in company history.
