CONOR MCGREGOR has apologised for punching a 50-year-old man in a bar fight last April admitting “I was in the wrong”.
CCTV footage of McGregor striking the man in the altercation at a Dublin pub was published online by TMZ Sports earlier this month.
In the clip, the Irishman appeared to launch an unprovoked punch on the man following a brief argument over his whiskey.
McGregor garnered widespread criticism as a result, with one Irish bar in the US going as far as to empty out all of its stock of his Proper No Twelve whiskey in protest.
Now the UFC star has broken his silence and pledged to “be better” in his first interview since the story broke.
"I was in the wrong. That man deserved to enjoy his time in the pub without having it end the way it did," McGregor told ESPN2.
"It was five months ago and I tried to make amends and I made amends back then. But that doesn't matter, I was in the wrong and I must take accountability, take responsibility.
"I owe that to the people that have supported me. I owe it to my mother, my father, my family. I owe it to the people that trained me in martial arts. That's not who I am.
"That is not the reason I got into martial arts or studying combat sports. The reason I got into it was to defend against that type of scenario.
"I have been making steps and continuing to make steps to do better and be better, to see it (the footage) is like a dagger into my heart as a young martial artist."
See More: Conor McGregor, Dublin
