Conor McGregor owns up to viral pub punch: ‘That’s not who I am’

UFC superstar Conor McGregor has addressed the viral video which showed him punching a 50-year-old man in the head in an Irish bar.

Conor McGregor. (Photo by Harry How / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

Conor McGregor expressed contrition in his first public statement since video of the MMA fighter punching a man in a pub went viral last week.

“I was in the wrong,” he told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani on Friday (AEST). “I must come here before you and take accountability and take responsibility. I owe it to the people that have been supporting me.”

McGregor is seen on video, first obtained by TMZ, punching an older man who had turned down the star pugilist’s brand of whiskey. Given the opportunity to explain his side of the incident, he instead offered regret.

“In reality, it doesn’t matter what happened there, I was in the wrong,” McGregor said in the interview. “That man deserved to enjoy his time in the pub without having it to end the way it did.

“Although, five months ago it was, I tried to make amends. I made amends back then. That does not even matter. That’s not who I am, that’s not the reason I got into martial arts or studying combat sport. The reason was to defend against that type of scenario.”

“I have been continually making steps to be better and do better, to see it,” he said of the bar video, “it’s a dagger in my heart as a young martial artist. I’m here to own up to that and move on and carry on and face what’s coming with it.”

I think Conor McGregor is a dude torn between wanting to be Biggie Smalls and Bruce Lee. And maybe a little Tony Montana.

— Robbie Fox (@RobbieBarstool) August 23, 2019

It was the latest act of outside-the-ring violence for McGregor, who was sentenced to community service for throwing a steel dolly through a bus window at Barclays Centre in April of 2018 and was arrested for smashing a fan’s cell phone in March of this year.

“In that Miami trip, I was preparing for battle,” McGregor said. “I brought my mother out. It was her 60th birthday. I brought the whole family out. We went out and then the situation arose. I need to just stop reacting to the bait. People are trying to bait me into things. Am I the fish? Or am I the whale? I must be calm. I must be calm. I must be Zen. I must lead by example. There’s so many people looking up to me. How can I react in this way? I need to get a hold of this.”

UFC rival Khabib Nurmagomedov and boss Dana White seemed befuddled by the fighter’s actions, with Nurmagomedov saying McGregor deserved jail time for the pub punch and that McGregor “lose his mind.”

McGregor, who has not fought since a UFC 229 loss to Nurmagomedov in October of 2018, is prepared to reap what he’s sown.

“Like I said, I’m working really hard to do this,” McGregor said. “I’m taking the necessary steps and I’ve been on a great trajectory. Even before the Miami incident, I was on a great trajectory. And then I had a little slip and I’m back up. I’m trying my hardest. I swear on my life, I’m trying my hardest.

“It’s been, what? Five months since that one? That’s it. I just have to take what comes and move on. I’ve learned from every single experience in my life and try to do right for the people who want me to do right … But how can they back me in certain situations? I must understand that and grow as a man and make amends.”