A woman accused UFC superstar Conor McGregor of putting her in a chokehold before raping her inside an Irish hotel in 2018 during her civil trial Wednesday against the controversial fighter.
Nikita Hand testified in Dublin’s High Court that she thought she was going to die when the Irish fighter allegedly pinned her to a bed and choked her three times during the attack in a Dublin penthouse, British outlets reported.
The former hair dresser, who filed a civil sexual assault suit, told jurors she bit the mixed martial arts fighter in an attempt to fend him off.
“I was trying to fight as much as I could. He put his arm around my neck and choked me three times,” said the woman, who was visibly shaken and asked for several breaks to collect herself, British outlets reported.
“I just froze and I couldn’t move or breathe and I kept looking at the bedpost and thinking of my daughter. I just kept thinking I would die and not see my daughter again.”
Hand testified that she reassured her alleged abuser she wouldn’t speak of what happened to avoid him hurting her again, adding that the mixed martial arts star compared choking her to his experience tapping out in octagon, the BBC reported.
The mother of one is seeking financial damages against McGregor, and another man, James Lawrence, alleging they sexually assaulted her on Dec. 9, 2018.
A spokesperson for McGregor previously denied the allegations, saying that Irish police had investigated the alleged assault and declined to bring criminal charges in 2020, according to AP News.
Attorneys for McGregor argued the sexual encounter was consensual and she’s trying to extort him, BBC reported.
Hand, who filed her civil suit in 2021, told the court she was “disappointed and upset” that Irish police failed to prosecute both men, complaining that she was treated unfairly because her alleged abuser was a celebrity.
Josh Gordon, Hand’s lawyer, said she and McGregor were familiar with each other as the pair grew up in the same area, had spoken over social media and shared mutual friends before meeting at the Beacon Hotel on the night of the alleged incident.
Hand told jurors the alleged attack left her with bruising along her hands and wrists, a bloody scratch to her chest and tenderness to her neck, adding that she’s been unable to work citing mental health issues.
Dublin-born McGregor, one of the world’s highest-paid sports stars, has been involved in a series of police cases, through the years.
In 2019, he was fined by a Dublin court for punching an elderly man at a Dublin pub, a moment that resulted in a viral video.
He settled another case in 2019 over accusations he grabbed and smashed the phone of someone who was filming him outside a Miami hotel. In 2018, he dodged jail time after he threw a metal hand truck at a bus outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn following a press conference.
The civil case is expected to continue over the next two weeks.
