Man who Conor McGregor punched reacts after being barred from pub

In April 2019, Conor McGregor punched a man in a pub in Dublin for refusing to take a free drink of his Proper No.12 Irish whiskey. The UFC star has once again brought the incident to the fore as reports of him purchasing the bar surfaced last week.

Conor McGregor spent somewhere between £1.4 to £1.8 million to procure the Marble Arch pub. And he has now reportedly barred the victim, 50-year-old Desmond Keogh, from entering the place.

Ye and your mans barred https://t.co/aVM5mcIA3F

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) April 22, 2021

In an exclusive interview with the Irish Mirror, Mr. Keogh weighed in on his ban and appeared to be unfazed by it. Refusing to spend money in the Irishman's pub, Desmond Keogh said:

“I’m not really concerned because I probably wouldn’t be going back to it now. I wouldn't be going back anyway, probably especially now. I wouldn’t want to be spending money in his pub to be honest. I didn’t really make much of it. It’s no skin off my nose really."

However, the man added that he had spent around 14 years drinking with his friends at the Marble Arch pub, and that he never did anything wrong. Speaking about his local pub, Mr. Keogh said:

"I’ve a lot of friends there. I probably drank there for about 14 years. The fact that he was in the wrong you know why blame me? It seems weird to me. It's disingenuous.”

Conor McGregor had apologized for the incident in 2019

Conor McGregor was made to apologize to Desmond Keogh and pay an £860 (€1000) fine after the incident. In his apology statement in August 2019, McGregor said:

“What I did was very wrong and I’d like to apologise again to the injured party and today before the court and assure you that nothing of this nature will happen again.”

Conor McGregor supposedly punched Mr. Keogh due to no fault of his own. While the hit may have hurt, Desmond Keogh claimed to be capable of eating a shot. Speaking about the incident in a 2019 interview, Mr. Keogh told The Star:

“I am sitting on the barstool just having a quiet pint with my friend then all of a sudden because I refuse his drink I get a punch, you don’t need that in life. Look-it, I can take a punch."