Conor McGregor Pleads Guilty and is Sentenced in UFC 223 Bus Attack
Former UFC dual-division champion Conor McGregor was sentenced in a New York courtroom on Thursday for his April attack on a bus full of UFC fighters and staff.
McGregor appeared in Kings County Criminal Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly conduct, as did his teammate and fellow perpetrator in the bus attack Cian Cowley.
McGregor's plea was part of a negotiated deal between his legal team and the district attorney's office, which dropped two felony charges and several misdemeanor charges against him. As a result, Judge Raymond Rodriguez sentenced McGregor to five days of community service, completion of an anger-management class, and ordered him to pay restitution.
Should he fulfill the terms of the plea deal, McGregor will serve no jail time and will not have a criminal record. As an Irish citizen, this effectively removes any threat to his immigration status, allowing him to resume his fighting career and work in the United States.
The judge also served three orders of protection against McGregor, according to Reuters, including two by fighters Ray Borg and Michael Chiesa, who were injured in the April incident. McGregor will not be allowed to be near them until July of 2020.
After the sentencing, McGregor appeared outside of the court house, where he made a brief statement.
"I just want to say that I am thankful to the DA and the judge for allowing me to move forward," he said. "I want to say to my friends, my family, and my fans, thank you for your support."
The incident occurred on April 5 following the UFC 223 Media Day when McGregor, Cowley, Artem Lobov, and several others stormed the loading dock of the Barclays Center. McGregor threw an appliance dolly at the window of a bus that held numerous UFC fighters, including Khabib Nurmagomedov, Rose Namajunas, Borg, and Chiesa, amongst others. The window shattered and injured Borg and Chiesa, necessitating their removal from the UFC 223 fight card.
Lobov had been scheduled to fight at UFC 223, but when UFC officials learned that he was part of the attack, they immediately removed him from the event, bringing the total fight cancellations because of the attack to three.
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McGregor has not set foot in the Octagon for a bout since defeating Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title at UFC 205 in November of 2016. That victory made him the UFC's first dual-division champion, as he also held the featherweight title at the time. He has since been forced to relinquish both belts.
Nurmagomedov currently holds the UFC lightweight title, while Max Holloway is the featherweight champion.
Now that McGregor has cleared the criminal proceedings stemming from the incident, it is expected that he will likely challenge Nurmagomedov for the belt at some point in the near future.
