It was evident that the legal phase of Conor McGregor’s life would outlive the fighting one by the time he left the Dublin Court of Appeal in July 2025, or rather, stayed away completely while three judges rejected his appeal on all grounds. Since breaking his leg in a loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021, he has not participated in mixed martial arts competitions. In the years since, he has been occupied with the courts.
The main focus of the case is Nikita Hand, who claimed that McGregor had sexually assaulted her in December 2018 at a hotel in Dublin. After hearing the case in November 2024, a jury at Dublin’s High Court found McGregor civilly liable and awarded Hand about 248,000 euros, or about $257,000, along with significant legal fees. McGregor refuted every accusation.
He filed an appeal. After considering his arguments, three senior judges rejected the appeal in its entirety after finding them to be unpersuasive. Among other things, his legal team had contended that the jury was asked an imprecise question. The idea that the jury was perplexed was deemed “simply unreal” by the appeals court. McGregor requested an additional appeal, but the Irish Supreme Court rejected it, stating that no issue of public concern had been brought up.
It could have ended there. It wasn’t. Nikita Hand and two other people, Samantha O’Reilly and Steven Cummins, have now filed a separate civil lawsuit against McGregor on the grounds of malicious abuse of court procedures. The affidavits the two submitted to support McGregor’s appeal are the subject of the claim; however, they were later withdrawn prior to the scheduled hearing. The Court of Appeal referred the case to prosecutors because it thought the withdrawal was so dramatic.
O’Reilly and Cummins were charged with perjury in September 2026, brought before Dublin District Court, and given strict bail. It is anticipated that a perjury trial will start in November. At the time of the 2018 incident, Hand and her then-partner lived next door to the two. They had tried to provide a different explanation for Hand’s injuries in their affidavits. The court’s suspicion seemed to be enough to initiate a criminal investigation after those affidavits were removed without cause.
It’s worth taking a moment to consider how that sequence appears from the outside. A civil appeal that included new witnesses, had those witnesses abruptly retract their testimony, and ultimately led to perjury charges is a noteworthy series of events that even set aside the original case.
A civil lawsuit brought against McGregor in Florida was dismissed on the other side of the Atlantic. A 49-year-old business executive filed the lawsuit, claiming that McGregor had sexually assaulted her in a Miami restroom at the Kaseya Center during an NBA Finals game in June 2023. Criminal charges had not been brought by the Florida State Attorney’s Office. The lawsuit was permanently closed when the plaintiff willingly dismissed it with prejudice in December 2025. McGregor had refuted every accusation. The case has been dismissed. Refiling is not possible.
As a result, the Dublin lawsuit grew while the Florida lawsuit ended. One case ended just as the Irish legal proceedings expanded and deepened beyond anyone’s expectations a year ago, creating an odd contrast.
Observing all of this, it seems as though McGregor’s legal predicament has gained momentum of its own, independent of anything that occurs during a press conference or fight promotion. He has mentioned going back to the UFC. It is a different and genuinely unclear question whether the courts or the public’s perception of him permit a fresh start.
