McGregor Forever review: Conor and why he paid the price for ‘going soft’

McGregor has had a remarkable triumph on his journey to the heart of conventional masculinity, and his more recent troubles demonstrate the limits of machismo. Along the way, he has attracted a following of ordinary men who are not physically fit or even young. And they have very strong opinions about McGregor. They are experts on whether it is over for him or not. They know what he should do now. They are always ready to buy the tickets, and to share their views.

In McGregor Forever, the voices of the pundits are layered into a couple of commentary montages, which work very well.

Is McGregor a vent for the anger of your average guy, is what this viewer asks herself.

Certainly, the violence is shocking. In mixed martial arts, you are allowed to hit someone while they are lying helpless on the ground. You’re allowed to choke them. Competitors fight in bare feet, and McGregor’s body must have looked more like a dancer’s than a fighter’s until he trained and trained.

The violence is not just in the ring (or octagon, as they call it). To see Khabib Nurmagomedov burst out of the fighting cage, moving at the speed of light and try to attack the team of McGregor, whom he had just defeated, is not a pretty sight.

Nor is the spectacle of McGregor attacking Nurmagomedov’s bus. But you’ll have seen that one many times, on the news, when we were being told that he had been sentenced to community service — a punishment he very much enjoyed, he said.

Even the press conference with Nurmagomedov was horrible, with McGregor running out of insults and eventually calling his opponent “the little fool”. It’s such a Dublin insult, it was almost touching. Just like the way McGregor responds to just having been savagely hit with the defiant smile of a small boy in denial.

After the Nurmagomedov debacle, McGregor becomes more respectful to opponents, such as Dustin Poirier, at press conferences. When Poirier defeats him, the commentators are wondering if McGregor is getting soft. He brings his girlfriend Dee and their children to training and Dee to fights — did that make him soft?

“He’s fighting dudes that are still hungry. Conor needs to get hungry like that,” says one commentator.

The injuries, the savage training, the interviews accumulate.

At the training camp for the fourth and final fight shown in McGregor Forever, one of his team explains “Dee and the kids aren’t here. There’s definitely more testosterone.”

At the pre-match press conference, all has changed. McGregor says to Poirier, who had beaten him the last time: “You’re only a little bitch. Your wife is your husband.”

The press are, allegedly, shocked. He was so nice to Poirier that last time — what has changed?

“He got knocked the **** out,” says Poirier calmly.

To this, McGregor has no reply.

What happens next? The UFC has seemed reluctant to give him fights. The pandemic was an agony. He is saying that he will fight America’s Michael Chandler later this year. But if he doesn’t, he’s 34 and still very rich.