MMA: Conor McGregor, film character and documentary subject
Conor McGregor in January 2020. Axelle / Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic
Text by: David Kalfa Follow
6 min
Conor McGregor: Notorious, dedicated to the mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar, was released on the Netflix platform on October 6, 2020. Rich on the Irishman's glory days at the Ultimate Fighting Championship from 2013 to 2016, this This documentary, however, shows little light on the personality of a controversial athlete whose sporting future remains difficult to predict.
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“
No one believed in me.
Doubt me now.
Conor McGregor sinks into the bowels of Las Vegas' gigantic T-Mobile Arena.
It's August 20, 2016 and the mixed martial arts (MMA) superstar has just gotten revenge on Nate Diaz at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Limping on his crutches, the Irishman repeats frantically: "
Surprise, the king is back."
"
The scene, captured for a documentary released in 2017 but posted online by Netflix on October 6, 2020, will no doubt delight fans of the "Notorious" ("the famous" in English), and they are numerous.
For 90 minutes,
Conor McGregor: Notorious looks
back and forth over the man's heyday at the UFC, from 2013 to 2016, although his victory over Eddie Alvarez is only briefly mentioned. at the end.
Charles Thiallier
, French journalist based in Dublin, wrote a book on the character,
Conor McGregor - Obsessions
, released in May 2020
by Hugo Sport editions.
He had seen the film in theaters in Ireland: “
I was a little disappointed because I found that we didn't learn much about him.
There are a few images of him early on, a few times he expresses himself when he was young, before he became a millionaire.
There are many known images of his fights against Nate Diaz and José Aldo.
There is a bit of a show-off dimension
[swank, Editor's note]
, as the Americans say,
where McGregor puts much forward with his cars and his millions, he does a lot on Instagram.
[…] It was something he did to, once again, write his story in his own way.
"
A success story that has slipped
However, the
success story has since slipped.
The documentary ends just before his very lucrative
August 2017
loss to the great American boxing champion Floyd Mayweather.
The rest of his career, from 2017 to 2020?
Repeated incidents and controversies: arrests for speeding or assaulting fans, including suspicions of sexual assault relayed by the American press in particular.
Conor McGregor also spent two days in
police custody in Corsica
in mid-September, following "
suspicion of exhibition and sexual assault
".
On the sports field, Conor McGregor was especially noted two years ago with a stinging and much publicized
loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov
, for his comeback to the UFC after two years of absence.
A general scuffle broke out after the Russian, exasperated by weeks of insults, leapt out of the battle cage.
The two protagonists were then suspended for several months.
The outburst punctuated a story that began in April 2018, when the Irishman and his entourage
sabotaged a UFC press event
centered on a Nurmagomedov game for the lightweight title.
Before this fight against Nurmagomedov "
he was not at all in the same state of mind as at the beginning of his career
, underlines Charles Thiallier.
It almost makes sense.
He built a fortune and an empire he could never have hoped to build.
He had really arrived at the top, at the end of something
”.
An uncertain sporting future
Hurt in his pride after his setback against Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor however tried to revive himself in the UFC.
In January 2020, he signed an expeditious 40-second victory over American Donald Cerrone.
More humble and less provocative, the Irishman then said he wanted to continue fighting.
But the Covid-19 pandemic has passed by and the Irish icon has once again announced his retirement from sports, in June 2020.
“
This was not desired at the start
, however believes Charles Thiallier.
After his win over Cerrone, he immediately says he wants to do two more fights in 2020. And then in March, there was the coronavirus.
The UFC had to hold its events behind closed doors.
The UFC didn't really want McGregor to fight behind closed doors because it would have made him less income since McGregor brings back a lot of spectators in theaters
.
Cold with the UFC for a given time, Conor McGregor then multiplied the projects on his side: an MMA fight against Dustin Poirier at the end of 2020, another English boxing against the Filipino legend
Manny Pacquiao in 2021
… "
The fight charity against Poirier, it's just communication
, launches Charles Thiallier.
I think he's putting pressure on the UFC.
If you follow him on Instagram, you will see that he is very sharp.
He trains a lot.
I believe he is ready to fight.
He settled his accounts with the UFC and his boss Dana White recently.
He wants to heat up his fans and the audience to say
'I'm ready, give me something and I'll fight' ”.
MMA media are now speculating that the McGregor-Poirier fight will be held under the auspices of the UFC.
To the delight of its admirers who reveled in the documentary on Netflix.
And just ask to see the rest of his success story.
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