The infamous bus attack ahead of UFC 223 is no longer a legal issue between Conor McGregor and Michael Chiesa.
On Friday, attorneys representing McGregor and Chiesa filed a stipulation of discontinuance with prejudice according to a report from MMA Fighting. This means both parties have agreed to end the lawsuit and it can not be refiled at a later date.
A person familiar with the situation confirmed the report to MMA Junkie. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Chiesa was in a bus carrying UFC 223 fighters at Barclays Center in Brooklyn when McGregor, along with teammates, attacked the vehicle. McGregor threw a hand truck through the bus window, causing flying glass to cut Chiesa’s face. The injury forced him to withdraw from the scheduled bout against former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.
In September 2018, Chiesa filed a lawsuit in Kings County (N.Y.) Civil Court against McGregor, his teammates, McGregor Sports and Entertainment, Barclays Center and BSE Global for a number of complaints including negligence, battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress, among other claims.
At the time, UFC president Dana White referred to the incident as “the most disgusting thing that has ever happened” in the promotion’s history.
Chiesa also claimed the incident cost him a shot at the lightweight title.
“I was the highest-ranked guy on the card,” Chiesa told MMA Junkie in an interview after the incident. “I would have stepped in to fight Khabib (Nurmagomedov) at the drop of a dime.”
McGregor’s legal team argued that Chiesa was not the intended target of the attack, but rather Nurmagomedov, who was among the other fighters on the bus with Chiesa.
According to the report, an appellate judge reviewed the case in the past month and found it necessary to include the claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress and to properly name the parent company of Madison Square Garden, the UFC 223 venue, as a party to the lawsuit. However, both parties have now agreed to no longer pursue the matter.
