Conor McGregor is headed back to court over a Sky News reporter calling him a rapist.<\/p>\n
In November 2024, McGregor was found civilly liable<\/a> by an Irish jury for the 2018 assault of Nikita Hand in a Dublin hotel. As he exited the courthouse to a scrum of press, a Sky News reporter said \u201cMr. McGregor, you are a rapist. Have you any reaction or apology to the woman at the center of this?\u201d<\/p>\n On Thursday (Nov. 20th, 2025), McGregor\u2019s Irish lawyers were granted the right<\/a> to serve Sky News in the UK with a lawsuit accusing the outlet of defamation. Why now, considering it\u2019s been almost a year since the incident? There\u2019s a one year statute of limitations to file this sort of lawsuit, and McGregor\u2019s lawyers got their case in just two days before time ran out.<\/p>\n The root of McGregor\u2019s lawsuit against Sky Sports comes down to the civil charge McGregor was found guilty of: assault, not rape.<\/p>\n \u201cThe civil tort of assault \u2026 that was what the jury was asked to consider,\u201d NewsTalk reporter Frank Greaney said following the guilty verdict<\/a> in 2024. \u201cBut clearly, through the evidence, and the judge said this to the jury: the essence of the allegation was of a sexual nature. It was an allegation of of rape.\u201d<\/p>\n