Mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor lost an appeal in Ireland on Thursday, after a civil court ruling last year ordered him to pay damages to a woman who accused him of rape.
A panel of three judges at the Court of Appeal in Dublin rejected all the legal arguments put forward by McGregor, 36.
In November, a jury at Dublin’s High Court awarded nearly €250,000 (about $258,000) in damages to Nikita Hand, 35, who alleged McGregor raped her at a hotel in Dublin in 2018.
The court was told that McGregor “brutally raped and battered” Hand. McGregor has denied the allegations, claiming the encounter was consensual.
Hand had also filed an assault lawsuit against a second man, but that case was unsuccessful.
In addition to the damages, McGregor was ordered to pay the full legal costs of the case—estimated at approximately €1.5 million (roughly $1.58 million).
McGregor had appealed the jury’s decision, requesting a retrial, but the Court of Appeal dismissed his case. His legal team claimed there were judicial errors during the original trial, including in the conduct of cross-examinations.
McGregor, who has been active in Ireland’s anti-immigration movement and visited U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in March during Saint Patrick’s Day events, was not present during the appeal hearings, which spanned a month.
