McGregor Forever director Gotham Chopra spoke with FanSided MMA ahead of the release of the new Conor McGregor documentary.
Former two-division champion Conor McGregor returns to Neflix for a second documentary detailing his career following his fight with Floyd Mayweather. The four-part series McGregor Forever debut on the streaming service this week to overwhelming success and widespread accolades from MMA fans.
Ahead of the release FanSided MMA sat with Gotham Chopra, the director for the documentary and co-founder of Religion of Sports, producers of McGregor Forever, here's what we learned.
How did you first get involved with 'McGregor Forever'?
It goes back to 2019 which is when I got involved. I think there was already a conversation going between Conor and Netflix. They have had success before with this other project he had done there, and Conor just being Conor, there's always an interest. He had already been shooting -- a lot of athletes are doing this now -- just documenting, capturing stuff. 'You never know,' that type of thing.
Plus, he loves to have all of his sparring sessions, all of his training, he shoots everything so he can kind of obsess over it, just for his fight training. So there's just a lot of material. There's a guy who was actually the co-director of this, Darragh McCarthy, who's in-house basically. And so that's when I got involved.
Interesting stuff had happened just between the [Floyd] Mayweather fight that had created a lot of noise, his Khabib [Nurmagomedov] fight. So it's just like a sort of interesting moment in time where it's like, there's, at the time it felt like, a comeback from these two losses.
And this isn't it, because Conor is very committed to continuing to fight. So that was when I got involved. I met him; I thought he was interesting. I mean, I certainly was aware of him and all that. But I thought he is interesting -- just the contrast between the showman and the sort-of carnival act that was always around him -- versus this guy who's really smart, and articulate, and honest, and present when you're with him.
Like this could be cool. That was how it started, of course. Then the pandemic came, and that definitely was a monkey wrench. But, you know, that is what non-scripted content is sort of figuring it out.
So how how much did 'McGregor Forever' change from the way you kind of envisioned it when you first started to where it ended up today?
It's called unscripted for a reason.
You start with a vision, you start with an intent. But in this type of filmmaking, you start with the character, and there's certainly a backstory, the origins, where this person came from this sort-of biopic stuff. This has had a set of circumstances of like I said, the Mayweather fight and the Khabib fight and certain things. But yeah, then as you start documenting and following you definitely have to be agile. And sometimes it's what happens inside the Octagon.
In this case, winning and losing, injuries, all that stuff. Or it's just the world at large -- everything around you changes. And by the way, it's also sometimes personal circumstances. Things go on in people's lives, and that changes the course. The good news is the great thing about this type of filmmaking is it's not like hundreds of people and sets and big, huge budgets. It's stripped down. It's in the moment. It's like, how can we be the least obtrusive because we just want to hang around and be there for the real-life stuff?
Conor is sort of like, I don't want to say ahead of the game because a lot of people are doing this now — a lot of athletes — but they're documenting anyway. They have people as part of their crew, or entourage, or whatever, that are holding cameras and stuff like that. So you get to this case, tap into that, which is what we did. But yeah, it's all about building the right team and adapting to the situation.
There must have been a lot of footage you couldn't include, is there anything you wish fans could have been able to see that maybe didn't quite fit the story or fit the timeframe?
I wouldn't say there's anything missing in totality. Like could there be more on just...there was like a lot of drama right around the Khabib fight or the lead-up to the Khaib fight. Just in terms of stuff that had gone on and like this crazy, you know ... Conor throws the chair or the table or something at the bus.
But you kind of make sacrifices because of time, but also because it's like, sometimes it's so 'inside baseball.' And it's like for people that really understand. And I'm always thinking about, Okay, this can't just be for the hardcore UFC fan who kind of already knows 90 percent of what is going on and now you have to add the extra 10 percent. This is also about the person who has 0 percent -- that doesn't know anything.
And now you just can't say you know, you're making "sacrifices" for story, for time. I mean, the horrible expression to use in filmmaking is "killing babies" because they're things you love like you absolutely love it, and are emotionally attached to. But when you back up, you're like, 'Oh, does this really matter?' Like, you know, bigger picture. So there's some of that, but I can't think of anything that came out that was like...it's so precious and it's so important.
I would say there was like a moment where I just, it's like, one of the most indelible moments for me, because I was there. The second Poirier fight in Vegas, and I was kind of with Conor as he was onstage during this crazy press conference. And man, it was just one of those classic Conor McGregor circuses. Just total Alpha energy. Had to be separated, and he got rushed off the stage. I got rushed off with him and one of his security guards pushed us into a holding room, and he's like, 'Stay here. It's not safe.' He's like, 'Everyone needs to calm down. There's like, a lot of crazy energy out in the house.' Like, okay, and I was just like stuck in this room for like, 10 minutes with Conor and I think maybe one or two other people. It was tiny, and it was like being in there with a caged lion. And I was trying to film it, but then I was like, 'I don't know.' He looks pretty menacing right now. I don't want to get into with him.'
Definitely not every moment as great as it is can fit into the film, but most of them are.
What surprised you the most about Conor McGregor as a person?
It's probably not the most original answer, but there are definitely moments of vulnerability. For all of his bravado and confidence, you know, there's ... I don't see doubt but there is very willful and ... a lot of self-confidence. I mean, how can you not?
If you're going to be in the fight game, you better be confident. And I'd say there's a humanity. I guess maybe it shouldn't be surprising, but it was a little bit to me. Like you said there's this never-ending carnival atmosphere and chaos around him. Conor is actually...I would say his greatest gift, in many ways, is his presence. Like when he's with you, he's with you. When he sits down in that chair, and you're in a conversation, he's focused, he's honest, he's present, he's not distracted. It's probably what's made him a great fighter because obviously, you can't walk into the Octagon distracted. Otherwise, you're literally gonna get beaten down. I mean, that's one of the things about that fascinates me about him in the sport in general. I mean, it's violent. It's primordial "two people get into a ring, one of them walks out." And that's the sport. And so, what type of people are willing to put themselves in that position over and over again?
So I'd say you know, just like that and the other thing is I found it really interesting when Conor loses, and he lost a couple of times while we were documenting this thing, everyone around him — and certainly the UFC press, I mean that's what we do — there's all this discussion around it, and what does this mean and is this the end? Can he come back? Is he the guy?
He doesn't get caught up in that noise. I just remember, after the Khaib fight in particular, there was particular chaos around that. And even in the aftermath of that fight. He was disappointed, for sure, but...his resilience, his ability to deal with both failure or loss and sort of dial-up. 'Okay, like what am I taking from this? How do I literally and figuratively pick myself up off the mat and do it again?' It's untitled. I've never seen anything like that. So I know it's a long answer, but like, I don't know if it's surprising, but it was definitely very clear to me that this is just a different type of person.
Conor McGregor's legacy has been marred with controversy due to several legal issues, how much of the documentary shows those moments?
I guess the one that's the most clear is ... he got convicted before the Khabib fight. I don't remember the exact conviction, but it was basically he had thrown something at the bus — vandalism or something. But basically, that's an example, there's been others. That one we use quite a bit because it's the setup to this fight. But his community service, so he ended up getting sentenced to a bunch of community service in Brooklyn.
And we kind of documented that whole thing. I mean, there's references to some of the other stuff, and certainly through a lot of the public commentary. There's stuff we probably wanted to talk about or get into, and maybe we couldn't more for legal reasons, you know? So it's in there, but probably. I'm sure you know, somebody objectively looking, is everyone gonna be satisfied? Maybe not.
How much control did Conor McGregor have over the final version of the documentary?
It's going to be in partnership. Where are you in your life? What do you want to say? I would say it's more from a creative standpoint. That being said, it's also very clear from the start. It's 'Okay, we're not here to do a vanity piece.' Conor is not an executive producer on this. I think that's equally important to Netflix and other broadcasters. But in this case, Netflix, they don't want to be part of just some giant vanity piece. And so you establish those ... I don't want to say rules, but that clarity up front.
And then in Conor's case, he's actually not a guy who sits around and watches cuts and gives you notes. I mean, he's got people around him, and certainly, we work with them and talk to them. But it's also like you just start to build a relationship over time and you kind of know where the sensitivities are. Also, the opposite of that is like, 'Okay, this is going to be tough because we have to deal with it.' And you just get ahead of that, but that's going back to working with Kobe Bryant. I've dealt with that. Tom Brady and I dealt with that. So, you're gonna have to deal with it. You deal with it, but very clear, this is not about Conor McGregor, sitting around watching cuts, giving you notes. He's just not gonna like that. I mean, he will sit around and obsess over sparring footage so he can improve his fight game. But I don't think he yet sort of sees himself as a filmmaker or producer that's worrying too much about the cut.
TUF 31 is set to be released this month, did that play into your timing on the release of 'McGregor Forever'? Was it planned or a happy coincidence?
No, it's somewhere in between. I wouldn't say it was a long lead-like strategy. But as you sort of come to an end of a project...I would say not from a creative standpoint. It's not really even part of the film. And from a marketing standpoint, which is frankly less my domain. We do have a marketing team and Netflix, clearly, they're the masters of this in terms of like, 'Okay, when does the algorithm tell us like people are going to be paying attention to Conor McGregor or UFC?' So I think as you get to a certain spot, and you can see the end, you start looking at the calendar and figuring out when would be the ideal time to release something to optimize success. So, yeah, it's not a coincidence, but it's also not like some master plan that everyone came up with two years ago. A little bit in between.