McGregor Forever Season 1 Review – A revealing and surprisingly intimate docu-series

Episode Guide

Bad Blood
As Real as It Gets
Insane to This Game
‘Til the Day I Go Out

MMA is a fascinating sport. Just like Mike Tyson’s famous words: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Unlike Formula 1 or football or even baseball, where one or two teams fight for the main prize every year, UFC is a whole different animal. Almost every single athlete has faced the bitter taste of failure at one point or another. Of course, there are a few who come through the other side unscathed – but it’s a very thin list.

When it comes to Ultimate Fighting Championship, there is perhaps no other more recognizable name than Conor McGregor. With his wild trash talking, larger-than-life persona and crazy entertaining fights, McGregor has seen and done it all inside the Octagon. Who could forget his knockout victory against Jose Aldo? The crazy way McGregor put his hands behind his back during the fight with Alvarez. And, most notable, being humbled in various fights toward the latter parts of his career.

Following on from McGregor’s previous documentary on Netflix, Notorious, McGregor Forever begins with Conor’s return from a two-year break in 2018 to fight undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov, journeying through the highs of lows of his time back in the Octagon, ending with his two matches against Dustin Poirier.

Interwoven around slick editing of the various bouts is a fly-on-the-wall approach to seeing behind the scenes at Conor’s family life. It really works to lift the veil around his swagger and persona to show a driven family man at heart. There’s a particularly nice moment at the end of episode 1, where Conor is back in his dressing room and he’s feeling depressed and struggling to hold it together. These intimate moments really help to peel back the curtain and see the real man behind the show-stopping persona.

There are a lot of interviews here too, both in the present and through archival footage, that helps reinforce McGregor’s mindset, and thankfully some of his less savory moments are actually shown here, including Conor smashing up Khabib’s bus.

The episodes each follow a similar structure, counting down to a big fight at the end, with plenty of training, revealing interviews and injury concerns aplenty. All of this makes for an enjoyable ride, and it’s intermingled in with social media reactions, plenty of media buzz and all sorts of other tidbits that fans of UFC should enjoy.

Even those not fully into MMA will find a lot to like here and with a much more revealing look at McGregor’s personality this time around, McGregor Forever is much more revealing than one may have assumed after watching Notorious. Love him or hate him, there’s no denying Conor McGregor helped to elevate UFC to a new level and he will always be remembered for that, regardless of whether he steps back in the Octagon or not.

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