Conor McGregor is in trouble. The former two-division UFC champion was found liable in the civil case filed by Nikita Hand over an alleged incident at a hotel room in Dublin back in 2018. Of course, this devastated McGregor, who was not expecting to lose the trial, and had tears coming down his face when the verdict was read out.

This, of course, has dealt a massive blow to his reputation and is hurting his pocket. But the one question that many many fans are asking is why wasn’t he jailed if he was found liable by a court. In this article, we answer this question.

The reason behind no jail time for Conor McGregor

The main reason McGregor will not go to jail is because he was found guilty in a civil trial in a civil court, and not a criminal one. This is because the prosecutors didn’t choose to charge the Irishman criminally since that requires a much higher standard of evidence.

In a civil trial, guilt is determined on the basis of a balance of probabilities, while in a criminal trial, the defendant needs to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. And that predictably, needs a lot of solid, unimpeachable evidence that leaves no doubt about a defendant’s guilt.

On the other hand, a civil trial only requires jurors to determine whether it is more likely than not that a defendant is guilty. Consequently, it also doesn’t entail jail time if found guilty, and the punishment is mostly in the form of monetary damages.

This is precisely why Conor McGregor has been ordered to pay Nikita Hand around $260,000 in damages and will not be going to prison. A hearing to determine the liability for legal costs will start next week, where ‘Mac’ may have to pay more to cover Nikita Hand’s legal fees. This amount may seem relatively modest for a multi-millionaire like McGregor, but there are much more serious problems for ‘Mac’ that could seriously affect him financially going forward.

Conor McGregor’s brand value takes a big hit after the Nikita Hand case

Not many brands want to be associated with a man adjudicated liable in a case of this nature, even in a civil trial. And while the former UFC champ has promised to appeal the judgment in higher courts, brands have already started fleeing ‘Mac’. The first to do so was the video game developer, IO Interactive.

The UFC superstar was featured as an assassination target (under the name ‘The Dominator’) in the DLC of the global smash-hit game ‘Hitman: World of Assassination’. But now, the DLC has been pulled off the shelves and digital stores by the company and will no longer be available for purchase.

But what will really hurt ‘Mac’ is his being dropped by the ‘Proper No. 12’ whiskey brand, which he had co-founded, grew, and sold majority stakes a few years ago, making at least an estimated $125 million. Even after the sale, the brand was almost synonymous with McGregor and continued to use his name and likeness to promote the brand. Now his name and likeness have been removed from the brand and its promotions going forward. What are our thoughts on Conor McGregor being found liable by a civil court?