Conor McGregor Breaks Silence After Punching Old Man: ‘I Was In The Wrong’

Conor McGregor is breaking his silence.

The UFC superstar addressed an April incident in which he punched a man in the head after refusing the star’s Proper Twelve whiskey in a Dublin pub. Video of the incident was released by TMZ last week.

(You can watch the incident here)

On Thursday, McGregor appeared on ESPN to talk about the incident.

“In reality, it doesn’t matter what happened there, I was in the wrong,” McGregor said. “That man deserved to enjoy his time in the pub without it having to end the way it did. Although five months ago it was, and I tried to make amends and I made amends back then it’s still … that does not even matter. I was in the wrong. I must come here before you and take responsibility and I owe to the people who have been supporting me. I owe it my mother, my family, and I owe it to the people who train me in martial arts.

“That’s not who I am, that’s not the reason why I got into martial arts or studying combat sport. The reason I got into it was to defend against that type of scenario,” he added. “So to see that, and although months ago, and I have been making steps and continually making steps to do better and be better, to see it, it’s like a dagger into my heart as a young martial artist. So, I’ just here to own up to that and move and carry on and face what’s coming with it.”

McGregor, who gave an inspiring pre-game speech to the Boston Bruins in March and celebrated their victory by wheeling boxes of his whiskey into the B’s locker room, was arrested earlier that month after smashing a man’s phone in Miami.