Netflix doc shows Conor McGregor completely broken in darkest ...
Controversial UFC legend Conor McGregor has shared the raw moments fans believe changed the Irish superstar.
Although it wasn’t McGregor’s first UFC defeat, his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 was easily the most brutal.
Nurmagomedov defeated McGregor with a fourth-round neck crank in their infamous clash before the Dagastani legend jumped the cage and began fighting with the Irishman’s entourage.
McGregor also had to fight off a Nurmagomedov supporter who leapt into the octagon and took some swings at the vanquished star.
Both men were suspended from fighting and fined after the wild scenes.
It came after the ugliest lead up to a fight imaginable after McGregor was jailed over a bus attack outside Barclays Center and the animosity boiled over in the leadup to the fight.
Conor McGregor is shown after UFC 229 in a new Netflix documentary.Netfllix/McGregor Forever
But as the world tried to come to grips with what had happened in the mayhem, the fighters were taken back to their rooms as the formality of the result was revealed.
In the Netflix documentary series “McGregor Forever,” the world can get insight to a McGregor it’s not familiar with.
Consoled by his team, it’s a McGregor we’ve rarely seen before as he dealt with the gravity of defeat on the biggest stage.
The fight has what’s still a UFC record 2.4 million pay-per-view buys, which was only surpassed in history by McGregor’s boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather in 2017, and Mayweather’s fight against Manny Pacquiao in 2015.
Backstage, McGregor appeared to be a broken man who was near tears.
Conor McGregor after UFC 229Netflix/McGregor Forever
Conor McGregor gets choked out by Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018 fight.MediaNews Group via Getty Images
UFC president Dana White was filmed talking with McGregor and asked: “Are you alright? I mean, after the shots you took when the kid jumped in.”
McGregor replied: “I don’t give a f–k about that. I don’t give a bollocks about that. That was handbags.”
White: “I didn’t see Khabib jumping over. I didn’t see that coming.”
McGregor: “Who cares about that? That’s handbags. was beat and that’s that. I was beat where it mattered and that’s it. End of. Who cares about any of that other s–t?”
Even McGregor’s trainer Colin Byrne believed it was a turning point in his charge’s career.
“The Khabib fight was a kick in the hole,” Byrne said. “And he deserved it. There’s nothing nice about any of that. All that anger, and the press conference, the incident after the fight, there’s no winners in any of that. It’s just all hate. It brought out the worst in both of them, as humans, you know?And it takes away from what it’s meant to be. But at this stage, it’s not really about winning or losing any more.
Conor McGregor talks to UFC president Dana White after losing at UFC 229.Netflix/McGregor Forever
“The fighting is a very small part of it. It’s really only something we do for 10 minutes. It’s the rest of the weeks, months, years that — it’s not really about fighting, it’s about what he can do as a force in the world.”
But since that fateful day in October 2018, McGregor has fought just three times — a 2020 win over Donald Cerrone and two losses to Dustin Poirier.
McGregor has been out of commission since the second fight in July 2021 after McGregor broke his leg in sickening scenes.
While McGregor is expected to return to the octagon in a fight against Michael Chandler in the near future, it’s hard to know which McGregor will return to the sport where he has been the biggest star for the best part of a decade.
McGregor has teased that he’d chase the UFC knockout record — he’s at eight currently, five behind joint leaders Matt Brown and Derrick Lewis.
Conor McGregor was emotional after the Khabib Nurmagomedov defeat.Netflix/McGregor Forever
Khabib Nurmagomedov after jumping into the Las Vegas crowd to brawl with Conor McGregor’s entourage.Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
When asked how he’d break the record, the 34-year-old said: “Just get back to it.
“I’ve only got five KOs to go, so I’m almost there already. … I’ll see you soon.”
But recent form makes that hard to believe.
With just five fights and one win since UFC 205 in November 2016, where he won the Lightweight title over Eddie Alvarez to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold belts in two divisions simultaneously, there are more than a few questions about whether McGregor can rediscover the form that made him the sport’s most marketable athlete or whether he should just give it up all together.
