'Like a dagger in my heart' - Conor McGregor breaks silence on pub punch video as he says he was 'in the wrong'

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Irish UFC fighter Conor McGregor launching his Proper No Twelve Whiskey.

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thumbnail: Irish UFC fighter Conor McGregor launching his Proper No Twelve Whiskey.
Sorcha O'Connor

Conor McGregor has admitted that he was “in the wrong” during an incident in which he punched a man in a Dublin pub.

Speaking on American sports channel ESPN tonight the MMA fighter said that he wants to take responsibility for his actions and that he has been trying to make amends since the attack.

He said that he “owes it” to his parents, family, and his fans to own up, as well as those who trained him as a fighter in the first place.

He told interviewer Ariel Helwani that watching the video back was like a “dagger into his heart”.

“I mean in reality it doesn’t matter what happened there, I was in the wrong.

"That man deserved to enjoy his time in the pub without having it end the way it did.

"And although, five months ago it was, I tried to make amends and I did make amends back then, that doesn’t even matter.

"I was in the wrong, I  must come before you and take accountability and take responsibility and I owe it to the people who have been supporting me,” he said.

“I owe it to my mother and my father and my family, I owe it to the people who trained me in martial arts - and it is not the reason I got into martial arts or studying combat sport.

“The reason I got into it was to defend against that kind of scenario. I have been making steps to do better and be better to see it is like a dagger into my heart as a martial artist.

"I’m just here to own up to that and move on and carry on and face what is coming.”

A video of the altercation emerged earlier this week.

In the clip, Mr McGregor is standing at the bar handing out drinks to a group of people before appearing to lash out with his left hand and striking a man who is sitting on a bar stool nearby.

The man turns away from McGregor before the punch is thrown, and it connects with the left side of his head.

Two men who are with McGregor are then seen dragging him away from the bar.

The man who was struck does not move from his seat, but turns back to face McGregor as he is being taken away.

Staff can be seen reacting with shock.

Last April, the UFC fighter was interviewed by detectives after an alleged assault at the Marble Arch bar in Drimnagh. The man told officers he was assaulted by McGregor following a brief verbal row between the pair.

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