A witness for the Conor McGregor side in the alleged “whiskey deal” case against the mixed martial arts fighter (MMA) has serious health difficulties and as a result he is seeking an adjournment of the action, the High Court heard.
Artem Lobov, former MMA sparring partner of Mr McGregor, claims in the action he was involved in the creation of and working on the initial setting up the “Proper Number Twelve” Irish whiskey brand.
The brand was reported to be sold for $600 million to Proximo Spirits in 2021 and Mr McGregor was reported to have received $130 million from the sale.
Proximo cut ties with Mr McGregor and the brand following a separate High Court jury civil action which found he should pay almost €250,000 for raping a woman, Nikita Hand, in a Dublin hotel in December 2018.
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An appeal by Mr McGregor was rejected and he has since applied to the Supreme Court for a further appeal.
Mr Lobov originally claimed he made an oral agreement about the whiskey brand in a gym in September 2017. Mr McGregor said he was in Ibiza that September and could not have been present on that date.
However, as Mr Lobov was preparing for the hearing of his case, he found an old mobile phone last March which clarified that the meeting at which the agreement was made was October 9th, 2017, not in September.
As a result a hearing date last May had to be vacated after Mr McGregor’s side said it had completely changed the claim they had to meet and they needed time to deal with it.
A formal application was made to allow Mr Lobov amend his pleadings, was opposed by the McGregor side, but granted by the court and a new date for hearing eventually set for December.
On Thursday, Andrew Walker SC, for Mr Lobov, said the defendant had sought to adjourn the December date initially because it did not suit and when that was refused by the Lobov side, the defendant’s lawyers said a medical issue with a witness had come up but counsel did not wish to go into the details of that.
Mr Walker said while his side had previously got an adjournment because the old phone was found, they would like to see some documentation on why it should be adjourned from December.
Mark Lynam SC, who heads Mr McGregor’s new legal team, said there were two separate difficulties and one related to serious health difficulties of one of the McGregor side’s witnesses.
Medical evidence sought by the Lobov side to show this could be provided, he said.
Mr Justice Brian Cregan adjourned the case for mention to next week when the medical evidence will be produced.
