Conor McGregor shares similarities to top sporting stars like LeBron James, Steph Curry and Tom Brady according to his documentarian Gotham Chopra.
McGregor Forever, a four-part series debuts Wednesday on Netflix on Wednesday and explores the Irishman's recent setbacks in the UFC as well as life behind the scenes.
And for Chopra, director of the documentary as well as previous documentaries focused on James and Brady, the former two-weight champion shares the same ‘mad scientist' obsession with getting things right that the likes of those other top stars have.
“I’d say what’s in common is this relentless work ethic,” Chopra told MMA Fighting after spending three years developing the documentary on McGregor. “This obsession with getting it right. I’ve seen it with Tom in throwing sessions or Steph Curry in shooting sessions. You’re talking in Tom’s case the greatest of all time with quarterbacks, or Steph Curry, the greatest shooter of all-time or in LeBron’s case, they are like mad scientists in the laboratory.
“I’ve seen this with Conor in his practice sessions. He’s obsessing over little things. [We shot a lot of footage in training] and Conor will look at the tape and every little movement. He’s a mad scientist. He’s a perfectionist. It’s like you’re supposed to work out for two hours and four hours later you’re still going. Always looking for that next level, that edge to get it right. That’s what’s in common.”
But with that said, there are differences.
After all, MMA is not a team sport and if McGregor has an off day like he's had in his last two fights against Dustin Poirier where he suffered knockout defeats, there's nobody else there to pick up the slack.
“You can — and Conor does — have the greatest trainers, dieticians, he’s using technology, and all this stuff and prepares and you see physically where he’s at and his trainers say this, push him in the octagon, close the cage, he’s on his own,” Chopra said. “It’s a violent sport. I’ve never seen anything like it.
“Steph can have an off day and Klay [Thompson] is there or in LeBron’s case with Anthony Davis and Tom always says ‘I had [Rob Gronkowski], I had [Julian Edelman], I had Wes Welker and Randy Moss, I had an entire defense that would pick me up when I had a bad game.’ You don’t get that in fighting. So there’s something mentally and emotionally about Conor that is totally different.”
Conor McGregor is expected to return to action against Michael Chandler later this year. However, it all depends on his status with USADA and as things stand, there is no update on that.
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