Conor McGregor Sued By UFC Fighter Michael Chiesa Over Bus Attack

You had to expect it would come at some time, but Conor McGregor’s April outburst at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the Irish champion lived up to his “Notorious” nickname when he threw a steel dolly through a bus window and caused several injuries, has finally seen another UFC fighter sue McGregor for the injuries he caused, according to reports from TMZ.

Suing McGregor is UFC fighter Michael Chiesa, who was at the Barclay’s to promote his UFC 223 fight with Anthony Pettis but ended up receiving injuries in the bus attack that prevented him from taking part and forced the fight to be canceled. Chiesa and Pettis eventually did fight in July, with Pettis winning by submission.

In the bus altercation, Pettis was one of those that bore the brunt of an attack that McGregor was aiming at Khabib Nurmagomodev, sustaining cuts to both his body and face when McGregor and his friends flew over to Brooklyn from Ireland and attacked a bus full of fighters and UFC staff members.

Going beyond simply missing the fight and the payday that would have come with it, the lawsuit being put forth by Chiesa in a state court in New York also mentions that the incident caused the fighter “severe emotional distress, mental trauma and/or bodily harm.”

The legal terms of the lawsuit, according to the TMZ reports, are that Chiesa is suing McGregor for assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. With McGregor’s prior convictions for the bus altercation, Chiesa has to have a decent chance of success.

Beyond the lawsuit against McGregor, Chiesa is taking his aims higher and also put forth a lawsuit against the Barclay’s Center, for what the lightweight fighter describes as a failure “to engage in proper security measures to protect the plaintiff and other patrons.”

While no cash terms are specified in the damages, Chiesa does include the paychecks that he missed from the cancellation of the UFC 223 fight as well as following fights that he was unable to participate in due to his need to recover from the injuries sustained, which would add up to a hefty enough cash settlement on its own.

After McGregor’s arrest for the incident, he was charged with felony criminal mischief and three counts of misdemeanor assault. Upon reaching a plea deal, Mcgregor pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct while the other charges were dropped.

While McGregor has UFC 229 and a long-awaited matchup with Nurmagomodev to look forward to, it will be very likely that more fighters will issue lawsuits and McGregor won’t be able to move on from the incident as easily as he hopes.