LONDON – A woman who alleged mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor “brutally raped and assaulted” her in a Dublin hotel penthouse was awarded nearly 250,000 euros ($257,000) by a civil court jury in Ireland on Friday .

The woman said the attack on December 9, 2018, after a night of partying, left her badly bruised and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

McGregor shook his head as the jury of eight women and four men delivered the verdict after deliberating for about six hours at the High Court in Dublin. He was harassed by cameras as he left court but made no comment.

McGregor testified that he never forced the woman to do anything against her will and said she made up the allegations after the two had consensual sex.

The woman’s lawyer said she never pretended to be a saint and went looking for a good time that turned into a nightmare.

Lawyer John Gordon said McGregor was angry about a fight he lost in Las Vegas two months earlier and took it out on his client.

“He’s not a man, he’s a coward,” Gordon told jurors. “A devious coward and you should treat him like he is.”

The woman had to take several pauses in her emotional testimony as she said McGregor threatened to kill her during the encounter.

McGregor put her in a chokehold several times and later told her, “now you know how I felt in the octagon where I tapped three times,” referring to an Ultimate Fighting Championship when he was forced to admit defeat, she said.

She was afraid she would die and never see her daughter again.

“He let me go and I remember feeling sorry because I felt like I had done something wrong and I wanted to reassure him that I wouldn’t tell anyone so he wouldn’t hurt me again,” said them.

She said she then let him do what he wanted and he had sex with her.

Police investigated the woman’s complaint, but prosecutors declined to file charges, saying there was insufficient evidence and a conviction was unlikely.

McGregor said the two had sex that was athletic and vigorous, but not rough. He said, “She never said ‘no’ and never stopped” and testified that everything she said was a lie.

“It’s a complete lie among many lies,” he said when asked about the chokehold accusation. “How anyone could believe that I, as a proud person, would highlight my shortcomings.”

McGregor’s lawyer told jurors to put aside their animosity toward the fighter.

“You may actively dislike him, some of you may even dislike him – there is no point in pretending the situation could be different,” said attorney Remy Farrell. “I’m not asking you to invite him to Sunday brunch.”

The defense said the woman never told investigators that McGregor had threatened her life. They also showed surveillance video in court, which they say showed the woman kissing McGregor’s arm and hugging him after they left the hotel room. Farrell said she looked “happy, happy, happy.”

McGregor said that when he was first questioned by police, he read a prepared statement. On the advice of his lawyer, he refused to answer more than a hundred follow-up questions.