Image of the Week #4: McGregor Moons the Big Screen
Conor McGregor is now a movie star, what is the meaning of his entrance into Roadhouse?
It’s been a weird week for the Double Champ. Conor’s acting debut in the new remake of Swayze fight fan classic Roadhouse, the highest paid debut in Hollywood history, was unique, to say the least. Though his acting itself was, well, not great, one can’t say it’s not fun seeing McGregor juiced to the gills on peptides and GH with a grin a mile wide while streaking some unnamed neighborhood in Florida to enter the world of Hollywood cinema. Conor’s depicts the film’s antagonist, Knox, like a juiced up, sub-literate, brute version of his self. The character has about a fraction of the intelligence and natural charm of the actor playing him, but Conor is always happy to bait his sizable homosexual fan base and has compared his decision to show off his ass to Arnold’s entrance in Terminator.
And even though Conor appears to be in the best shape of his life in the film, fans of his fight career are deeply worried about him. He’s a fucking wreck. Drunk as a skunk in more than half of his public appearances, clearly spun out out on speed or coke or both, and incapable of stringing together entire sentences despite the fact that in 2016 this man was the most effortlessly smooth talking and charismatic fighter in history. If this particular interview is any indication, Conor is a mess.
Conor’s comeback fight against Michael Chandler has been held up for a year. At first I thought Conor just didn’t feel like doing it, then I thought the UFC was fucking Conor due to their ongoing contract dispute (he only has two fights left on his contract and likely wants out after that,) but now I think it’s perfectly possible that Dana White knows Conor is a wreck and doesn’t want to take the liability on of sending a drug addict into the ring to get the shit kicked out of him.
What does all this mean? Why do people capable of such mind blowing greatness devolve into self-pitying, drug addicted, shadows of their former selves? Conor, after all, is nearly a billionaire. If anyone could simply bow out of public life and dedicate himself to his baby mama and beautiful children without ever having to worry about economic strife, ever again, it’s Conor. So, why?
Competitors of Conor’s caliber are never solely in the game for the money. Money is a powerful incentive, of course, but it almost is never as satisfying as it sounds. It’s hollow. It’s a scheme. You chase it but you never catch it. It is a drug that never gets you as high as you want it to. Once you exit poverty and make the first million, the thrills it offers dwindle with every dollar accrued.
Conor loves flashing wealth, but he knows in his heart of hearts that no amount of money, three-piece suits, Lambo yachts, Ferrari’s, or action movie roles can replace the sheer fucking buzz of sitting atop of the cage, drowning in the screams of an adoring crowd, fists raised to the ceiling after having just knocked out one of the most deadly men alive cold. Though it seems absurd to say, I feel bad for the guy. After Conor knocked out Alvarez in 2016, becoming the first martial artist to hold belts in two separate divisions of the UFC, it would have seemed unthinkable to picture Conor as a drug fried wash up mumbling and shaking next to Jake Gyllenhaal to promote a straight to streaming movie (I liked the movie). But, here he is.
Fighters in particular seem a bit more prone to falling victim to the dark side of fame than other athletes. For one, they get hit in the head for a living and all, to varying degrees, suffer from both CTE and chronic pain. Second, they only compete twice a year. In a fight camp, they are all systems go: train, sleep, repeat. It’s no surprise that once a fight is done they take the liberty to take their massive fight purse and blow it on drugs, pussy and gambling. It’s part of the lifestyle. Conor has been kept on the bench by the UFC for years now, and it’s taken his toll. He just seems different. Sadder. His signature charisma has diminished. I genuinely hope he can get it together.
Mental illness in combat sports has been a popular topic recently. Former UFC middleweight champ Sean Strickand has been extremely open about his struggles with his mental health, and I think laudably so. Light weight boxer Ryan Garcia has been subject of scrutiny for his mental health after several social media posts and interviews after claiming to have been witness to Hollywood castle intrigue involving sex trafficking. But after the raiding of Diddy’s three homes, who is to say the kid is wrong? I don’t know. The kid probably is crazy and brain damaged, but everything is true at the same time.