Irish MMA star Conor McGregor is to appear in front of Brooklyn Criminal Court on Thursday to face felony charges.
UFC champion Conor McGregor is in the US to face felony charges for his April 5 Barclays Center blowout which injured two other MMA fighters. Dublin-born McGregor, 29, will appear in front of the Brooklyn Criminal Court, where he and his teammate Cian Cowley will learn if they will be indicted.
According to MMA Junkie, McGregor’s court appearance is likely only to take a couple of minutes but will show which direction the criminal case is heading. The hearing on Thursday could simply be used to schedule a further hearing in the Fall, allowing legal teams more time to work, as it is unlikely that a plea agreement will be reached or that the charges will be dropped.
On April 5, videos emerged of McGregor storming the UFC 233 press conference being held in Barclays before that Saturday’s New York fight night. With the fighters packed into buses and vans ready to leave the venue, two members of McGregor’s team at The Mac Life allowed him into a private parking bar where he began to throw barriers and a hand dolly at the windows of the vehicles, smashing windows and injuring the fighters sitting inside.
Read more: Could Conor McGregor be banned from the US if convicted?
Conor McGregor. Picks up guard rail. Attempts to throw it at bus. ABSOLUTE CHAOS IN NEW YORK. #UFC223 (Via Felice Herrig's IG story) pic.twitter.com/JYQZD7jtKP
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) April 5, 2018
Accompanied by a group of around 20 men, McGregor fled the scene shortly after with UFC President Dana White confirming later in the afternoon that the NYPD wished to speak to him.
The UFC fighter handed himself over to police in the 78th precinct in Prospect Heights on the night of April 5 at around 11pm as NYPD announced they wished to speak to him regarding earlier violent events in the Barclays Center.
As a result of the attack and injuries sustained, the UFC was forced to pull three fights from their lineup on the following Saturday. Both lightweight Michael Chiesa and flyweight Ray Borg were deemed unfit to fight because of facial lacerations and corneal abrasions.
Conor McGregor throwing a dolly at the bus @TheNotoriousMMA @arielhelwani pic.twitter.com/nkH1zlPnIt
— Style Street (@StyleStreetCo) April 5, 2018
In total, McGregor faces three charges of assault and one count of felony criminal mischief. He was set a $50,000 bail with his passport returned so he could continue to work in Ireland. Cowley was also released on a $25,000 bail. Both were asked to check in weekly with celebrity bondsman Ira Judelson.
On Tuesday, McGregor posted a picture to Instagram of himself, Cowley and his son Conor Jr., before boarding a jet to the US from Dublin Airport. He also posted about the court appearance on Saturday following Cowley’s win in his second professional fight over Daniel Olejniczak.
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“Congrats @cian_c from the cells to the stadiums. Not a scratch. They done nothing. Jet leaves Tuesday my brother have a good one #Animal,” he captioned the photo.
Congrats @CianCowley from the cells to the stadiums. Not a scratch. They done nothing.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) June 9, 2018
Jet leaves Tuesday my brother have a good one #Animal pic.twitter.com/FUX8gllmDx
Cowley himself is said to have brushed off the seriousness of the criminal charges.
“It was nothing. We’ll just get it out of the way and then get back to work,” he said, according to Metro UK.
“Well, I have been working anyway. It was nothing, it was all blown up. That’s not even in my head anyway.”
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