How's it going? Uh, welcome to Shinobi Vlog.
My name is Conor McGregor,
I'm a mixed martial artist with the Ultimate Fighting Championship,
and I'm from Dublin, Ireland.
[indistinct chattering]
- [interviewer] What scares you most? - [inhales]
[Conor] Uh, I don't know. I don't really fear...
fear too much. I don't fear... I don't really think about things like that.
[mumbles] Nothing fears me.
People might, might expect me to say losing might fear me, or defeat.
Defeat isn't... isn't something that fears me,
success isn't something that inspires me either, you know what I mean?
Success doesn't inspire me, and fear doesn't...
and defeat doesn't fear me.
[interviewer] What d'you wanna be?
That's another thing, "What do you wanna be?"
I don't... I don't wanna be anything.
I-- I am... I am everything I wanna be.
I'm already there, you know?
I don't, I don't want anything.
People say, people say like, "I want this."
Or "I wanna, I wanna do this, or do that."
But the vibe you're putting out is want.
You're always going to want. I always have the attitude that I have.
Again, I always felt like I was a black belt.
You know what I mean? I always felt like I was the world champion.
I always felt like I already could do everything.
Know what I mean? But I don't want anything,
I have everything. That's the mindset.
I mean, I have everything.
I have everything!
[opening theme music playing]
UFC 257 is officially in the books,
and you probably heard by now
that Dustin Poirier defeated Conor McGregor...
Dustin Poirier dusted up Conor McGregor in the second round.
Holy shit, that just happened!
...knocking out Conor McGregor, the whole world was watching...
- Yeah, he fought well in the beginning... - [man 1] He did.
Poirier just mangled the leg of Conor McGregor.
He walked out with a cane.
His legs were shot.
I just feel like Conor McGregor really shit the bed out there.
John Kavanagh told us before the last fight,
this is the best Conor McGregor you've ever seen.
And it was without doubt the worst Conor McGregor we've ever seen.
[Joe] I don't think he's the same animal.
[man 2] Wasn't the Conor of old.
[man 3] That ain't the same guy. That's not the same guy.
[man 4] We need the old Conor back, we need the trash-talking Conor...
[man 5] I told you, he's a rich man now. Got a lot of money.
[man 6] He was in the gutter, in Abu Dhabi or Dubai,
sipping up.
[man 7] It's hard to get up at 5:00 in the morning
and go running when you're sleeping in silk pajamas.
[man 8] Sleeping on super-yachts and living a billionaire lifestyle.
[man 9] The difference between wanting to win and needing to win...
McGregor is in that want-to-win stage.
He's fighting dudes who still need to win.
They're hungrier, and if McGregor can't get hungry like that,
then he should hang it up.
[Julian] Conor, he had been under a bit of pressure,
from, from a lot of different angles.
He needed a bit of breathing space.
He needed that little bit of time to find himself.
[Colin] Nothing quite feels like losing a fight
because it's prime.
If the referee wasn't there, you would've died, and you know it.
He's got to ask himself, "Do I want it?"
Do you wanna put up with that misery in your underwear
in front of 20,000 people, in front of the world?
It's as... it's as honest as it gets.
And then all the criticism that comes from that, when you win or lose.
Fact is, when you walk out there,
and the bell goes ding-dong, d'you wanna kill the guy or not?
[documentarian] That's how it's been for the last few weeks?
You coming in here, dead of the night, getting your work done?
Yeah, that's it. Two sessions a day.
Just doing me work. Head down.
Fully focused.
And enjoying it, I have to say.
You know. A lot of time on my own, obviously with the family,
but alone from the team.
You know... [lightly pants]
...a lot of soul searching and deep thinking.
How I wanna go about the next one and what I should be doing.
You can learn a lot from tough times, you know what I mean?
If not... the most. You learn the most from...
your hardships, your losses.
Then come back better than ever. And that's what I feel.
- I really feel I've figured it out. - [indistinct chattering]
I can feel my purpose, I feel like I'm glowing again.
I'm getting that glow about me again. And, uh...
[documentarian] Do you feel that's a solo journey?
Ah, well, of course it's a solo journey.
I've got an incredible team who all help me out and are all there for me,
but it is a solo journey.
I'm the one that has to walk into the cage at the end of the day.
So, um...
[men shouting]
[man 1] McGregor! Yes!
[man 2] Champion!
[serene music]
[Audie] Conor's someone that takes his losses in the chin,
but comes right back with a vengeance
and shows that he's learned and he's grown from that experience.
When he's faced with adversity, he runs back into it,
as opposed to away from it.
And so, he told me,
I don't want anything else but that rematch.
- [tense music] - [man 1] Breaking UFC news...
[man 2] It's official. Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor 3. UFC 264.
[man 3] Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor, part 3.
[man 4] I can't overstate how big this fight is for Conor.
[man 5] The pressure is on McGregor to come back.
[man 6] There's a lot on the line.
[man 7] He can't continue losing like this.
[man 8] As he stepped in there, he was so focused on...
[man 9] Conor was just so predictable in that last fight.
[man 10] Don't know if he and his team can construct the right game plan
to defeat the best 155-pound fighter in the world.
[interviewer] What were your thoughts this week with the added media attention?
I don't pay attention to it. I just pay attention to my team.
The people in my circle. Nobody else matters.
That's perfect, straight to the mat there.
[Conor] My team is my team since day one.
My coach has been my coach since day one.
I feel people go to different gyms and go in search of something,
but it's a sign of a weak fighter, to me.
You build it yourself with a belief in your surroundings,
belief in your work and belief in your team.
I listen to my team, show up at the gym, put more work in than anyone else.
And at the same time, no one can critique me... myself
more than I critique myself.
You know what I mean? So...
what other people say doesn't really come into the equation.
[commentator] Nice body shot there from Conor.
[Conor] Catch that left-turn kick,
off of something coming on the back.
Right. That definitely could be a feature of Dustin's plan, you know?
Yeah, lay-up, yeah. Yeah.
- [John] Poor on round three. - [Conor] Yeah.
There's nice shots here.
- Isn't there like? - Yeah.
Around the temple, he's weak around the temple.
The dome, like...
There's a few glancing elbows there.
They kinda pulled this trick
outta the back pocket, and fair play.
We know that now.
Look, no one loses better than Conor.
It takes a very special mindset to be able to sit back,
have your ego in check, watch the tape back,
and say, "We screwed up here,
why so many calf kicks? We never had this issue before.
Where am I weak?" Well, look. Here, here, and here.
The great thing with Conor is that he understands
that failure is a necessary ingredient towards success and improvement.
And you go out there and you do it.
[clapping]
If you were squaring up in front of me...
I can't kick that, and if I try and kick that,
that left hand's gonna fuckin'... like a missile down the pipe.
He won't get a heavy lead like he did last time.
He hit me with 18 kicks, I hit him with one.
Eighteen low kicks, I hit him with one.
You know what I mean? I'll be the 18, he'll be three or four.
You know what I mean? And that'll be in the first two fuckin' minutes.
[Owen] Yeah, man, excellent job. Good leg kick.
Boom, boom, go.
Kick and go!
One more round to finish five.
Let's do that high-high kick.
[Owen] Now push! Now push!
Back up and then spin. Hey!
[John] One of the very common questions I get is,
"Oh, did you know right away with Conor?"
Or, "When someone comes in, do you know they're special?"
I'd be lying if I said yes.
Because I don't know if they can do it every day for six months.
So it's very tempting to say the wall came down
and split the mats in two, and out walked Conor...
Oh, no, he was just a kid that just wouldn't stop showing up,
wouldn't stop messaging me outside of class times with his questions,
and that's what separates him from the others.
Every session is done with a mindset
that this is for a UFC championship
in Madison Square Garden, with half the world watching me.
Those daily repetitions done with a mindset
of somebody that's winning a title every day.
[Conor] It was a tough session.
The sessions I need and the sessions I'm relishing.
I'm enjoying them very much,
so keep it going, six weeks to go, today.
That's a camp for people, six weeks.
I'm full of energy, I'm fresh.
Keep it going. We've got this.
[kids chattering]
This is my new son, Rian.
- The next... the next champ. - [kids playing in background]
All right, buddy?
One week old.
One week old, yeah.
So just the smell of him, and all.
[chuckles] It's great.
Hey there, buddy. Another little one to teach.
Now I've got Junior that's gonna help me teach as well.
I'm excited. He's very good with him as well.
Dee had the third child, Rian. He's a beautiful baby boy.
And, you know, I've seen Conor grow
with every new family member that he's brought into this world.
- He's smiling a little bit, isn't he? - He's smiling.
[Audie] I can see, honestly, a twinkle in his eye.
[Conor chuckles]
- Daddy, can I have some more? - Want some more food?
[Audie] He does it all for them.
Like The Lion King. [giggles] Look at his little face.
[punches landing]
[indistinct chattering]
Again. Hey! Nice one.
The difference between that and that, you know?
So, just a slide back, different shot.
[Owen] Thirteen minutes. Thirteen minutes to go.
[Conor grunts]
[Owen] Sixteen minutes. Sixteen minutes gone.
[groans]
[Conor] On the ankle as well.
A little sore on the shin.
Throwing them and sometimes they lift and hit the knee,
but it's all good. Couple of days or a week...
of minding it,
and I should be good to go again.
One of the things that... unfortunate... Conor had to deal with
was a lot of swelling around that ankle.
We feared that it was a stress fracture.
The X-rays done in Dubai came back that it was a deep bone bruise.
So, we were trying to figure out, how do we get him through this camp,
finish camp and get him to fight? Or do we have to push the fight back?
It's not a decision that's taken lightly at all,
particularly when Conor never tries to pull...
He tries to avoid-- He doesn't wanna talk about it.
But at the end of the day, for us,
we have to first make sure his health and safety is put above everything else.
This happened right before he flew to LA.
[Conor] My surgeon is the head doctor, so we came out to see him,
to chat about the ankle.
A couple of days' rest, naturally, after the last mesocycle.
So I'm okay to do all this.
Then I want to start pushing, getting back to training.
I want to kick again, bounce again, spar again.
If these are things I can't really do, there's gonna be an issue.
I'm gonna see how it unfolds and make a decision what to do after that.
I've been sparring a lot with no shin pads.
Obviously, there's to be a trauma in the, in the...
bunch of low kicks, the last time. I wanted to be sparring
and training with no shin pads, so I can feel the exact force.
So I threw a couple of kicks, I've thrown loads of kicks,
one of them hit the knee with the shin,
and the other one hit the knee with the ankles. Two separate kicks.
So, is this part sore?
Not when you press it, no.
Your bone's bruised on this. You got a big bone bruise here.
- It shows that, does it? - I'll show you the MRI scan.
- So, whenever you do that... - [cracks]
When I do that, I can feel something here.
What you're feeling there is the swelling around the bone, here.
I have a feeling, when you kick,
you kick with force, so your leg stops,
- your ankle and foot keep coming. - Yeah.
- [Dr. Neal] Does this hurt when I do that? - [Conor] No.
- So that's what happens when he kicks. - [John] Yeah.
[Dr. Neal] It'll stop here, this will come forward.
If that doesn't hurt you, that's a good sign.
- [Conor] Yeah. - Let me show you what you have here.
- So that's new. - [Conor] What?
The bone bruise.
[Conor] That's from the kick? That's from kicking the knee?
Yeah, and it's also from the added impact
of what you're doing to train, the running too.
I guess the real reason we came here was to get a time estimate
of what you think that this is going to take.
[Audie] That, or figure out if we should push the fight back.
[Dr. Neal] Yeah. It's gonna be, basically, based on his symptoms,
not based on how you follow it like this.
I think that you decrease the impact,
let him go into the Octagon and do what he'd normally be doing
at this point before a fight, and see how it responds.
If it gets worse
over the course of a week or so,
then we gotta shut it down.
When you're training, as soon as you make contact
with that part of your ankle with somebody's shin or knee,
if you hit it like that...
anything hard-- There's no padding here,
there's no muscle or anything under the skin here,
it's gonna light you up. And so...
if we at least pad it,
for training, it's not going to eliminate the impact,
but you need to be able to throw some kicks to...
- [Conor] To go through the motion. - ...to go through the motion of training.
Once I can go through the mechanisms of it and not be limping then after it,
I'll be happy with that.
[osteopath] I mean, I could cut this bit.
[Conor] Yeah, perfect.
Perfect, man.
What you need to do is go get your stance,
- 'cause it's gonna get very hard. - Yeah.
[osteopath] See, that's better, right? But the question is, is it functional?
- [man] When you bounce around? - [Conor] It is functional.
[osteopath] You can take stress off, train and feel confident.
[Conor] That's it. That's all I need.
He's gonna have to have this for training.
This is gonna keep coming back if he doesn't.
[Audie] This gives some confidence to know there's an adjustment we have to do
from an ongoing perspective,
what we've been training, this gives us all the tools we need.
He's exposing it to what got you here in the first place,
so this is, going forward,
- stuff he should work on. - No problem.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. I really appreciate it.
Two geniuses here.
I wanna be correct going in here.
I'm giving nothing. I'm not giving an inch with this fight.
There's a lot on the line,
and hopefully in a couple of days, it'll settle and we'll be good.
But we'll see.
[Conor] Point out the difference to the UFC floor.
This is the exact UFC Octagon, that's the UFC canvas.
How good does that feel?
Doesn't it? Ah! It's unbelievable!
- [cheers] - [man laughs]
[Conor] This is the McGregor compound here in Newport.
Look at it. It's a dungeon, know what I mean?
It's all state-of-the-art equipment, but it has that feel of hard work.
I look forward to coming here and working hard.
Lovely selection of bags. That is a real nice selection of bags there.
[Audie] He wanted something that had all the necessary equipment,
from the Octagon to the heavy bags,
but he also wanted it to be real, he didn't want it to be dressed up
to make it look like it was some palatial space
that he was coming in to lounge. He was coming in to get working.
Blown away by it, to be honest with you. Everything that we need is here.
Plus, he's happy, and that's the biggest thing.
You can hear him in the background being happy, yeah? [laughs]
[Conor] It's perfect.
It's mad, like an up and down game.
Not just fighting, you know, life, it's an up and down mental game.
Good to get here, good to see the gym, good to talk to the doc,
good to feel a plan is in place for that final stage.
I'm just thinking, I need to get this recovery time right.
I need to take this and enjoy this.
That's when I switched, before I came here,
and this is sending me like a rocket to the moon.
And then the fight's handy.
With the prep, the fight's handy.
So, good day, good day today.
Getting sent pictures of the kids.
- [John] How are they? - [Conor] They're just after having baths.
[Conor laughs]
Conor's at a state where he's grown into this man,
into this father...
That's a good start.
But right now, the focus is on the fight.
And if he wants to be at his best,
he feels he needs that singular focus.
So, it was the family's decision
that they stay home in Ireland,
but then meet up right after the fight.
And I think that it will allow him to feel that energy, that vibe
that he needs to go in there and be the best version of himself
come fight night.
[intense music playing]
[Owen] It got very real very quickly.
There's five weeks to go.
We've come with a different approach to put the pressure on Poirier.
He's going with a boxing mentality,
thinking you'll do the same, some leg kicks--
- Then suddenly, whop, wonky. - Yeah.
[John] What have we changed? I would say variety.
We're gonna see a much more expansive range of techniques.
The mixed martial artist is here, and he's here to win.
[Owen] That one's high.
[John] Keep your leg a little bit in the kicking range.
Keep your center straight, move your leg back nice and fast.
Put a jab or stutter-step your way in, it's all good.
Getting light on the feet. Finding the left leg.
Not damaging it.
All I need is the target.
Got to get your body strong to be in this game,
for this long, at this level.
So rehabilitation work,
you've gotta become a master at it.
Otherwise,
you'll be here today, gone tomorrow.
[man] This one's one of my favorites.
Thank you. Thanks so much.
Got your whiskey back at the house. I'm gonna drink it tonight.
Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
I'm not gonna rush now, cracking him.
I'm gonna crack him, get in, put it in his face!
I know he's gonna do that.
Elbow off that, exactly. Bam, bam!
Go straight off. You have the technique.
One notable thing, the first time,
Dee's not here and the kids.
The fact she's not here, I think, does him a favor.
Definitely more testosterone in the air.
There's definitely more aggression,
but that increased aggression
is a very good thing for the fight environment.
Beautiful knockout. There's going to be a devastating victory.
An ass whooping.
Feeling that longing for his family,
that crushes him, but it also fuels him.
It's like you take something away that someone loves
and it builds this energy that you wanna have
heading into a combat sport.
He's not coming back from this.
This is gonna be a bad one.
Mark me words on that.
[music crescendos]
[Colin] You can see the change in Conor's personality.
He's starting to look more like that creative, precise killer.
We're ready.
It's just time to go and get it done now.
- [Conor] The one I hit here. - [man 1] Yeah.
I do mix it up sometimes. I got hit in the knee a few times.
- With that one as well. - Yeah.
Leg kick.
[Conor] So I've been training with no shin pads
because the shin pads let me down the last time in camp because
it felt like I was in a safe place, taking the kicks in a certain area,
and when you remove the shin pads, it was way different.
They had a major effect. I wanna feel the exact feeling
in the leg kicks.
Keep them kicks busy, man. Really.
I wanna pump every fucking time... kick me.
- You know? That's on the fourth round. - [man 2] Yeah.
[Julian] The nature of the sport is high impact, high trauma sport.
And after the previous fights,
Conor wanted to spar without the shin pads.
It's just to see how he would get on.
We're very keen on early rehabilitation.
[man 3] So, have you had the stim before?
- [Conor] I have had a stim before. - [man 3] Perfect.
So, this one's gonna start feeling like little electrical shocks,
little pulses. It shouldn't feel painful at all.
At any point, you can just let me know as I start it up,
if it starts feeling good, starts feeling too much.
So I'm just gonna leave it there.
Should feel pretty mild as it starts up,
it's going for about eight minutes... [voice fades]
[man 4] He's not the same Conor McGregor.
Will we ever see Conor from Conor vs Dustin 1?
Does that guy even remain?
[man 5] Nobody likes the respectful Conor.
[man 6] The subdued McGregor wasn't as fiery coming to the fight.
[man 7] Conor's killer instinct was half the battle for him.
Is Conor there mentally?
[man 8] On Fight Island, it was an even playing field.
Conor made an even playing field, he'd grown up and matured.
He's become a pussycat inside the Octagon.
This time around, I want the full mink coat out again,
because I believe he needs to do that to become notorious.
[man 9] Now we find out Conor doesn't have his family with him.
He's gonna be calm, and he's gonna calmly say,
"I'm gonna put you in the fucking ground."
[man] Excellent. Hands down, fists tight.
[Stephen] Conor, I gotta ask you this question.
Considering all that you've accomplished in life and career,
why are you here?
[Conor] Every time I sit in an interview,
it's, "Oh, why are you here? You've too much money.
You're too successful, you've done it all."
Blah, blah, blah. There's a lot more left in me,
I'm still very young, I'm very fresh in the game,
And I'm a dangerous man, Stephen. I'm the most dangerous of them all.
[Stephen] Obviously, he's made a ton of money,
maybe the hunger isn't there as much. What do you think of that?
That makes him more dangerous to me.
He's doing it 'cause he wants to, not 'cause he has to.
Let's rewind the clock to the sequel. You were incredibly nice.
[bleep] that this time. That's the mindset here.
[Stephen] Obviously, the last one, you knocked him out cold.
Will that make him hungrier?
He wants that back, that's what makes him so dangerous.
[Conor] I break people's faces for money and bounce.
That's what I do. Saturday night, I'm gonna do it again.
Excuse me, sir, that just happened to you.
Yeah, well, here we go again. I'm back.
[Stephen] What's the difference between Conor McGregor that won in 2014
and Conor McGregor that lost in 2021?
[Conor] Sure, I lost. It happened. I'm not a loser.
Sometimes, a defeat is what you need,
a defeat is the secret ingredient to success.
[Stephen] When this fight is over, what will we walk away
saying about Conor McGregor?
The greatest of all time, what a dangerous man.
Shouldn't have doubted him.
I'm gonna be doing it for a long, long time yet.
[Stephen] When you say a long, long time, you're 32, how long are we talking?
Three hundred and thirty-two. I'm doing this until the day I go out.
[crowd cheers]
This game is mine. This city, Las Vegas, is mine.
This world is mine. Saturday night, I'm gonna show that.
[Dustin] I'm sure he's going out there with something to prove.
Come and get it.
[Conor] I'm coming in with vicious intent here.
Murder shots. KO, out on a stretcher.
Know what I mean? I'm coming in to kill this man.
[crowd cheering]
[man] Dustin, you said Conor had kinda lost his aura,
but I wonder, this is an entirely different environment, right?
We're talking sold out, bunch of Irish flags everywhere.
Has the challenge changed for you because of this?
Not anymore, I...
[crowd jeers]
You know, you guys in the crowd, cheer it up, have fun.
But I see a man in front of me that I defeated
and I know I can defeat again.
You're getting walked like a dog in that Octagon on Saturday night.
[crowd roars]
[man] It's getting kinda ugly again. Is this personal for you, at this point?
Nah. It's straight business, man. This is--
You're only a little bitch.
[crowd cheers]
Your wife is your husband!
You're a little bitch of a thing, a silly little hillbilly.
You used to be a lot better than that. The trash talk was better than that.
Yeah. Shut your mouth. I'm gonna dance on your head.
He's done here. This is it for him.
This is the end of the road.
So, it's on now.
Saturday night, he's getting walked around that Octagon like a dog
and put to sleep.
Conor, in the build up to the last fight, you were unusually kind to Dustin.
Now, on fight week, it's the exact opposite.
Where did the switch happen?
[Dustin] Because he got knocked the fuck out.
[crowd roars]
Conor, win or lose, do you respect Dustin Poirier
no matter what happens on Saturday night?
I don't give a fuck about him, to be honest.
I don't give a rat's ass about him.
It was a fluke win and I'm going to correct it on Saturday night.
[crowd cheers]
Thank you. We'll see you at the weigh-ins tomorrow.
- [crowd cheering] - [tense music playing]
[Dana] We got the serious, hardcore, ready-to-win Conor McGregor back,
with the mind games that are played leading up to the fight.
He's the absolute best in the world at it.
If he wins, he's in line for a title shot,
he could be the world champion again.
[man 1] They were buddy-buddy last time.
The noise disappeared.
But that didn't work for him.
Anger with a purpose,
something to overcome.
That's his lift.
[man 2] He's the villain, and it's glad to see villain Conor back.
[Julian] Four pounds to go.
[man 3] If you go back to UFC 205,
he was a double champion, he had all the potential in the world.
What is this guy going to accomplish?
Is he going to get back to that guy?
Is he going to realize the potential that we saw at UFC 205?
- [Conor] One fifty-six on the dot. - [Julian] Perfect.
[man 4] Why is he back? For one reason.
He's back for legacy,
he's back to prove that he's one of the greatest of all time.
[man 5] If Dustin wins?
For Conor McGregor, is that him done in the UFC?
[man 4] Conor's got nowhere else to go.
If he doesn't beat Dustin, if he doesn't win this fight,
where does he go from there, with all due respect?
[Stephen] You gotta find a way to get back to whatever it was that you had
when you were winning all of those fights.
[crowd cheers]
[interviewer] When people ask you about pressure you face in your life and career,
you always say you enjoy that pressure. What pressure?
[Conor] Maybe previous, when all the stuff was going on,
all the world tours I went on, amount of media obligations,
the amount of times I felt like I was a monkey in the zoo,
locked in a cage, and they feed me a banana and tell me to dance.
Now what I'm doing this for is finally here.
I'm not doing this for this.
I'm not doing this for fake acting,
trying to give emotion to some guy that wants emotion from me for a shot.
I can't do that. I don't do this for that.
I do it for the competition.
To step foot inside that Octagon.
Someone asked me what it's like when I make that walk,
when you walk into that arena.
When I walk out to that arena,
I honestly feel like I'm unshackling chains off me.
I feel like I'm chained, I'm carrying a cross or something.
Then when I get to that Octagon, I'm peeling it all off.
When I finally step foot in that Octagon,
place my bare feet on special UFC canvas,
I feel free.
That is why I say I don't feel pressure in there.
I do not. I feel free in there.
[intense instrumental music playing]
You're giving everything you've got. You're in there to die,
you're prepared to die in there. I am prepared to die in there.
And I'm also prepared to kill in there.
[music stops]
[aria plays]
I remind him every day, you don't have to do this ever again.
You don't have anything to prove ever again.
"I have something to prove to myself," is the answer that I get from him.
[crowd cheers]
[Julian] He has an incredible vision of what he can achieve.
It's his belief in himself and his lack of limitations
that allows him to do these things.
There's a saying, "reasonable men never achieved anything,"
and Conor's a very unreasonable man.
[Owen] Most people don't have the guts to put it all on the line.
To say what they're going to do and be brash and confident about it.
These are unique characters that come every once in a lifetime.
And if you're lucky enough to be living in that era,
you're gonna get the opportunity to experience something.
We call them the unicorns. He is one of them.
There will be more.
Will there be another that does like it Conor?
I don't think so.
[loud cheering]
[man] We've been over the rules. We're gonna have a clean fight.
Touch gloves if you wish at this time.
Let's do it.
[Joe] McGregor, two turning sidekicks to the body in a row.
- Beautiful! - Oh!
[Daniel] Oh, he stunned him with that left hand.
[Jon] He's gotten out ahead of Dustin a little bit.
- [crowd cheers] - [commentators exclaim]
[Daniel] Poirier landed a nasty left hand there.
[Jon] Furious start.
[Daniel] Oh!
Oh! Oh, he's got a guillotine here.
[Jon] He's only got one arm now.
- He's getting up. - [Daniel] Poirier's fine.
[Jon] Big elbow by Dustin.
- Solid elbows. -[Daniel] Big elbows by Conor.
Make space for the shins! Yes!
[Jon] Now Poirier throwing massive elbows of his own.
[Daniel] My goodness, this pace is crazy.
- [Jon] Oh! - [Joe] Dustin's dropping bombs!
Keep that foot under him!
[Jon] That's a big right-hand shot from Poirier!
Oh, big up-kick!
- That was a big up-kick! - [Daniel] That one landed!
But Dustin's right back on top of him.
-[Jon] Oh! - [Joe] Oh!
[Jon] Dustin's dropping bombs!
- [Daniel] Now McGregor back to his feet. - Yes!
[cracking sound]
Oh!
[John] When you hear the ten-second warning,
you start making your way to the cage.
Already, in my head, I kinda had my 30-second speech ready.
And then it kinda happened in that time period.
Why's he still sitting down?
I make my way towards him, he looks up...
foot's broken... And then we see this misshapen ankle and it's like, "Oh, no."
- [Jon] He broke his ankle! - [Joe] His leg's broken!
Oh, no!
[Owen] You could just see it, he was so devastated.
And that devastation turned just into anger.
- He was so annoyed. - [screams in frustration]
[Jon] Well, I'm rendered speechless.
Not the stoppage!
You tell him not the stoppage!
[Bruce] Declaring the winner, by TKO,
Dustin "The Diamond"
Poirier!
[Owen] Nobody wants to be standing beside your friend,
his leg is broken,
and everything he's trained for gets taken away from him.
That's definitely a hard one to take.
[Audie] It was surreal.
I was like, is this happening right now?
I was like, that can't be real.
[indistinct chattering]
[woman] This way, right here.
Well, that was...
one of the most unfortunate accidents that ended a fight.
It's like... What can you say?
[car door closes]
[Conor sighs]
- [man] UMC? You're going to...? - [cell phone dings]
Hospital. It was not... It was not a sprained ankle.
It's not like he had a recurring, unstable ankle.
That's not what he was wrapping it for.
He was wrapping it so that it dispersed it.
We probably need...
Immediately.
- See how much swelling there is. - [man] Yeah.
Dustin Poirier defeats Conor McGregor
via TKO doctor stoppage.
First round, doctor stoppage...
I think Conor put up almost a rabid-level fight.
Conor McGregor had a phenomenal game plan.
Chewing up the legs of Dustin Poirier...
Dustin Poirier was winning that fight, easily.
He was beating him, okay?
On the ground, Conor was bleeding.
There's a lot of questions about what would happen if Conor didn't get hurt.
Conor could've had a very strong second round.
He won a fight against Conor McGregor
by McGregor stepping funny on his leg
and it snapping in half.
It snapped. I'm talking about tibia and fibula, snapped.
Oh, man, it looked like, just...
This one of them freak accidents...
- Conor's facing a long rehab. - Yes.
- Is Conor McGregor done? - I think yes.
We'll probably never see Conor fight in the cage again.
[Dr. Neal] Okay, so, that's the side view of your ankle.
- Fibula. - [Julian] In half.
[Conor] So, tibia and fibula?
[Dr. Neal] The tibia was in four pieces,
fibula cracked like that.
You wanna see the thing that I love?
- [Conor] The job? - Oh. Look at how perfect that is.
All that smashed stuff is now...
looks like a normal joint.
[Conor] It's only gonna get better, isn't that right?
- [Dr. Neal] It's gonna get better. - [Conor] This is the worst of everything.
I'm on all the pain medication. I'm moving into a new thing.
This is gonna be a little bit of a rocky road early on,
and then once you get going again,
Conor, then all of a sudden, you'll feel more like yourself again.
- But, um... - When do you think I'll be
ready to go again?
I think that... you're gonna be able to start training,
not kicking, but training, probably six months.
I won't be able to train until six months, though I'll be off a crutch at six weeks?
You'll be exercising, rehabbing. Training like you train,
simulating kicking and punching the bag,
and things like that, I would bet it's gonna be about six.
Okay, that's for an intense training regimen. What about...
other training, when do you think?
I know you've been enjoying the biking and things like that
you were doing in Orange County, you'll be doing that
probably just, maybe, two months, eight weeks from now.
[Conor] I'd be able to that? That would be amazing
because I can get real work done there
and I can also build the strength back up in my leg.
So that will definitely tide me over.
Yeah.
When d'you think I'll be able to fight? A year?
Yeah, I think... I think ten months to a year.
Let's face it, when you get in there, you're gonna wanna be...
You don't wanna be compromised, you don't wanna be restricted,
you wanna be full go, everything goes.
- And I think it's gonna take that long. - Mm.
I appreciate you, doc, man. I really, really do.
See you soon. Have a good night. Nice to see you.
- See you later. Good to see you. - Nice to see you again.
[emotional music]
[Julian] How are you doing today?
A little bit sore, so...
It's alright... but it's been...
Fells like it's getting grayer in here.
[Julian] Lights are off. Want me to turn them on?
No, not with the light.
It's, like, up and down. You know what I mean?
I find myself up, buzzy, over it.
And then I find myself in a bad way over it.
So, it's just about
managing the way of...
how good.
Comes with the fuckin' territory, doesn't it?
Couple of weeks, I'll be all right.
[emotional music]
[man 1] It's time to accept reality for McGregor fans,
and most importantly for McGregor himself.
[woman] Is Conor McGregor done?
[man 2] When you look at the career
of Conor McGregor, it's going to be before Floyd
and after Floyd.
[man 3] A man who's aged, who's simply...
[man 4] Conor was on fucking welfare,
and look at him how many years later?
What is it, six or seven years? Little more, seven or eight years.
Multiple weight class titles, he became a worldwide celebrity.
[man 5] At some point in time, you're like, "You know what?
My heart is not in it to do this anymore."
[man 6] I've questioned every single day why this fucking guy is still fighting.
Why're you fighting? What's the point?
Just ride off into the sunset, my friend.
It was a tough area, where I grew up.
You just had to be able to defend yourself,
not that I couldn't fight, but I would more be afraid of situations.
If something happened, I was like... I realized I was getting these nerves,
and I was like, they're a weird emotion I just had.
Ultimately, that was what drove me to combat sport.
To be able to be comfortable in an uncomfortable situation.
I suppose all of these things combined, doing these things as a kid,
feeling these emotions, have just led me to get to that better stage.
But again, there is no limit to this.
I'm gonna keep on going... I don't know when I can stop.
[clicks]
[exhales, clears throat]
[Conor] You know, it's a high-pressure situation,
this life, I suppose.
It's just about coming in, enjoying it, getting your work in, being committed.
You know, I thrive under these conditions,
in all aspects of my life.
It builds character. It makes me stronger.
There's no question about it.
All that I've faced in me life has made me who I am.
There may be a time where I actually cannot fucking do this.
You know, if that day comes,
I don't really feel it will come. I'll find a way.
[Dr. Neal] It is still gonna be non-weight bearing for about six weeks.
The question is, do you get the regular pedicures?
[chuckles] No, I haven't. I've been thinking about it.
- Definitely have to change that. - [Conor chuckles]
At the end of the day, he's a mortal man.
He definitely can't do this forever.
But he still wants to compete.
It's not about the fame, it's not about the fortune,
it is because he has that drive
to continue to prove himself.
That's how he took the world by storm.
- [man] Good. You all right? - [Conor] Yeah.
[Audie] So now, it's just another chapter in his own life and career,
and the story's being told and it will unfold right before our eyes.
[Julian] It's looking promising for getting back in training again.
[pants]
Back in no time.
Where's that Brazilian at? [chuckles]
[John] Certainly with Conor, he has shown himself to be somebody
that long after any financial incentive was there,
he is still doing it.
Ah.
- Welcome back. - Welcome back.
Welcome back.
Yes!
[John] I would challenge anybody to give me a better reason,
a better explanation other than he clearly loves it.
It's his passion.
It's his love for the thrill of competition.
The enjoyment of the activity,
the enjoyment of the sport,
that has not waned, it's not gone away.
If anything, the power seems to be growing.
Yes. [pants]
There's always a way. Always a way.
If you're willing,
you're also able,
and I'm more than fucking willing.
[Owen] From day one, he just always had that belief in himself.
He'll say something,
lets everybody know he's gonna do it,
and he'll be brave enough to go after it,
whether it's fighting, whether it's business...
[woman] Conor McGregor just sold the majority of Proper 12
for $600 million.
[man] Conor McGregor was the highest paid athlete
in 2021.
[Conor] I know I'm a made man. I know I'm set.
It's nice having that in the back pocket.
It makes me, like, "Yeah, lovely. You're damn right, I'm a made man.
You're damn right I'm set."
I'm extremely grateful for it.
I'm proud of my life and what I've done.
I'm motivated to keep going,
but I'm a competitor, through and through.
I'm at my best when I'm in competition.
I'm gonna fight for me, for my enjoyment and my love of it.
For the love of being in great physical condition,
in body and mind.
For the love of giving entertainment to the fans
and the people that support me, do or die.
- Through it all, the fans support me. - [man] I love you, Conor!
Most days back smiling, yeah?
Feel pretty good, though.
So, well ready, well up for it.
My legacy is already set in stone.
I broke the game before I was 30 years of age.
[man] Mr. McGregor, let's do this.
[Conor] I've been fighting my entire life.
I just wanna compete, I wanna do what I love to do,
and I will continue to do so.
It's what I was put here to do.
That's what I've been doing, I've been just figuring out
more and more stuff about myself.
And I've been really enjoying it.
I'm gonna keep going. I don't think I'm there yet, you know.
I think I've barely unlocked my potential.
[Conor] I'm gonna get a picture of all you motherfuckers.
[crowd laughs]
You might all have to just take a little half a step back.
[laughs]
[camera shutter clicks]
[closing theme music playing]