FADE IN:
“We're not here to take part. We're here to take over.” — Conor McGregor
ONE
THE PLUMBER FROM CRUMLIN
EXT. CRUMLIN, DUBLIN — DAY — 2006
Grey skies over a working-class Dublin neighborhood. Row houses press against each other like teeth. A white van marked “PLUMBING SERVICES” is parked at the curb. We hear a radio inside playing RTÉ.
CONOR McGREGOR (18) sits in the passenger seat, wearing dirty work overalls. He's lean, almost gaunt, with a sharp jaw and restless eyes. His hands — the hands of a plumber's apprentice — are red and cracked from copper pipe.
He stares at a crumpled flyer on the dashboard: “STRAIGHT BLAST GYM — MIXED MARTIAL ARTS — ALL WELCOME.”
THE FATHER
(from the driver's seat)
You're staring at that thing again. We've got three boilers to fit today, son.
CONOR
Da, I don't want to fit boilers. I want to fight.
THE FATHER
Fighting doesn't pay the bills, Conor.
CONOR
It will. I'm going to be a world champion. I know it the way I know my own name.
His father looks at him — half worried, half something else. Something that almost looks like hope.
INT. STRAIGHT BLAST GYM (SBG) — DUBLIN — NIGHT — 2006
A cramped, sweaty gym above a warehouse. Heavy bags hang from exposed rafters. The smell of sweat and old leather. A dozen fighters spar on worn mats.
JOHN KAVANAGH (28) watches from the corner, arms crossed. He's compact, intense, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who built this gym from nothing.
Conor walks in. No gear. No mouthguard. Just jeans and a t-shirt. He looks around the room like he already owns it.
CONOR
I want to fight. Who's the best man in here?
KAVANAGH
(amused)
And who are you?
CONOR
Conor McGregor. Crumlin. I box. I want to learn the rest.
KAVANAGH
Everyone wants to fight on day one. Can you grapple?
CONOR
I can learn anything. Put me on the mat.
Kavanagh pairs him with a purple belt twice his size. Within thirty seconds, Conor is on his back, arm trapped in a tight kimura. He taps. Gets up immediately. Goes again. Tapped again. Goes again.
Kavanagh watches the kid get submitted seven times in a row without once showing frustration. Just calm, focused repetition. Learning.
KAVANAGH
(to himself)
Interesting.
INT. McGREGOR FAMILY HOME — CRUMLIN — NIGHT — 2007
A small kitchen. Conor sits across from his father at a Formica table. Between them: a letter from the Social Welfare office. Conor has quit plumbing. He's now collecting 188 euros a week in unemployment benefits.
THE FATHER
You quit a trade. A real trade, Conor. Do you know how many lads would kill for that apprenticeship?
CONOR
I'm not those lads. I'm training six hours a day now. John says I'm the most natural striker he's ever coached.
THE FATHER
And what does training pay? Nothing. You're on the dole, son. The dole.
Conor leans forward. His eyes are absolutely certain.
CONOR
I'm going to be a millionaire, Da. I'm going to buy you a house. I'm going to buy Ma a house. And everyone who doubted me is going to watch me on television and know they were wrong.
His father says nothing. He looks at his son like a man watching someone step off a cliff.
INT. DEE DEVLIN'S FLAT — DUBLIN — NIGHT — 2008
A tiny flat. DEE DEVLIN (21) sits at a table covered in bills. She works two jobs — waitressing and a night shift at a call center — to pay the rent while Conor trains.
Conor comes home after training, ice pack taped to his shoulder. He sits down beside her.
DEE
The electricity is due Friday. I can cover it if I pick up the Saturday shift.
CONOR
I'm sorry, Dee. I know this isn't what you signed up for.
DEE
Stop. I signed up for you. And I believe you. So stop apologizing and go win.
He looks at her. This woman who works two jobs so he can chase a dream most people think is insane. He takes her hand.
CONOR
When I make it — and I will make it — I'm going to give you the world. I swear it on my life.
INT. CAGE WARRIORS EVENT — DUBLIN — NIGHT — 2012
A packed arena. The crowd is deafening. Irish tricolors everywhere. Conor walks to the cage with supreme confidence, shadow-boxing, pointing at the crowd. He's filled out now — 170 pounds of coiled muscle and menace.
Cage Warriors — The biggest MMA promotion in Europe
Inside the cage, Conor knocks out his opponent in the first round with a devastating left hand. Then, two weeks later, he does it again at a different weight class. He now holds two Cage Warriors belts simultaneously.
After the second win, Kavanagh grabs Conor backstage.
KAVANAGH
The UFC called. They want to sign you.
Conor doesn't celebrate. He just nods, like a man who already knew the answer to a question.
CONOR
It's about time.
CONOR (V.O.) (breaking the fourth wall)
People say I was lucky. Lucky? I was on welfare, eating rice and chicken every day, training in a gym that smelled like a sewer. Dee worked two jobs. My father thought I'd lost my mind. There was no luck. There was belief. Pure, stupid, beautiful belief. And a left hand from God.
TWO
THE TAKEOVER
INT. UFC PRESS CONFERENCE — LAS VEGAS — DAY — 2014
A massive press conference table. Rows of fighters sit stone-faced behind microphones. Conor arrives late, wearing a tailored suit and sunglasses indoors. He sits down and immediately starts talking before the moderator can introduce him.
CONOR
I'd like to apologize... to absolutely nobody. The double champ does what the fook he wants.
The room erupts. Reporters scramble. Other fighters shift uncomfortably. DANA WHITE, sitting at the end of the table, suppresses a grin.
REPORTER
Conor, you're ranked fifteenth. Don't you think you should prove yourself before calling out the champion?
CONOR
I don't need rankings. I need an opponent with a pulse and a belt. I'll take the belt, and then I'll take the next one. They'll be calling this division the McGregor division because I am the division.
The clip goes viral within hours. “The Notorious” becomes the most searched fighter on the internet.
INT. KAVANAGH'S OFFICE — SBG IRELAND — NIGHT — 2015
Kavanagh sits across from Conor. Between them: a whiteboard covered in fight analysis of JOSÉ ALDO, the undefeated UFC featherweight champion who hasn't lost in ten years.
KAVANAGH
Aldo is the greatest featherweight who ever lived. His leg kicks alone can end you. He hasn't lost in a decade. This is serious, Conor.
CONOR
He's terrified of me. I can see it in his eyes at every press conference. He's never fought anyone like me because there's never been anyone like me.
KAVANAGH
You can't just believe your way through a man like Aldo.
CONOR
Watch me. Thirteen seconds. I'm going to put him away in thirteen seconds.
Kavanagh stares at him. Conor isn't joking.
INT. MGM GRAND GARDEN ARENA — LAS VEGAS — NIGHT — DECEMBER 12, 2015
UFC 194 — McGregor vs. Aldo — Featherweight Championship
The crowd is electric. 16,516 people packed into the arena. The noise is physical, a wall of sound. Irish flags cover entire sections.
Conor walks out to “The Foggy Dew” mixed with Sinéad O'Connor. He moves like a king entering his throne room — arms wide, chin up, eyes locked on the cage.
Across the cage: JOSÉ ALDO. Compact, powerful, unbeaten for a decade. The greatest featherweight in UFC history. His face is grim.
The bell rings. Both fighters come to center. Aldo throws a wide right hand, lunging forward. Conor reads it — he's been watching tape for months, waiting for exactly this.
Conor pulls back and fires a left cross — the most famous left hand in combat sports history. It lands flush on Aldo's jaw. The champion's legs buckle. He drops. Conor follows with a hammer fist. The referee dives in.
13 seconds. The fastest knockout in UFC title fight history.
The arena explodes. Conor leaps onto the cage, arms spread wide, mouth roaring. Below him, 16,000 Irish fans scream his name. He points at the crowd.
CONOR
(screaming into the camera)
I'd like to take this chance to apologize... to absolutely nobody! The double champ does what the fook he wants!
In the crowd, Dee Devlin is crying. Conor's father is on his feet, tears streaming down his face, fists in the air.
INT. UFC HEADQUARTERS — LAS VEGAS — DAY — 2016
A boardroom. Conor sits across from DANA WHITE and three UFC executives. On the table: the featherweight belt. Conor wants something no fighter has ever had.
CONOR
I want the lightweight belt. Let me fight Eddie Alvarez. Two belts. Two divisions. Nobody's ever done it.
DANA WHITE
Conor, if you move up, you vacate the featherweight. The division needs a champion.
CONOR
The division has a champion. Me. I'm going to hold both. Simultaneously. Make history, Dana. That's what I do. That's what we do.
Dana looks at his executives. They look skeptical. Dana looks back at Conor — at those eyes that never blink — and sees dollar signs.
DANA WHITE
You're insane. But you sell tickets. Let's do it.
INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN — NEW YORK — NIGHT — NOVEMBER 12, 2016
UFC 205 — The first UFC event in New York City history
The most famous arena in the world. Sold out. The energy is unlike anything the sport has ever seen. This is the night MMA arrives in New York, and Conor McGregor is the main event.
Conor dismantles EDDIE ALVAREZ over two rounds. Left hands. Right uppercuts. A clinical destruction. The referee stops it in the second round.
Conor stands in the center of the Octagon. A belt over each shoulder. He is the simultaneous UFC featherweight and lightweight champion — the first fighter in history to hold two UFC belts at the same time.
CONOR
(into the microphone, to the crowd)
I've spent a lot of time slapping the faces of people who have doubted me. I just want to say — from the bottom of me heart — I'd like to take this chance to apologize... to absolutely nobody!
He drapes both belts over his shoulders. The flashbulbs make the arena look like a galaxy.
CONOR (V.O.) (breaking the fourth wall)
Madison Square Garden. Two belts. The boy from Crumlin on welfare did what every expert said couldn't be done. And you know what the mad thing is? I told them all exactly how I'd do it, and they still couldn't stop me. That's the power of belief. That's the power of visualization. I saw this moment a thousand times before it happened. By the time I got there, it was just a memory playing out.
THREE
EMPIRE AND RECKONING
INT. T-MOBILE ARENA — LAS VEGAS — NIGHT — AUGUST 26, 2017
McGregor vs. Mayweather — “The Money Fight” — $600 million in revenue
The most lucrative fight in combat sports history. Conor McGregor — an MMA fighter who has never boxed professionally — is fighting FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR., the undefeated, pound-for-pound greatest boxer alive.
Backstage, Conor wraps his hands. Kavanagh watches.
KAVANAGH
You know what everyone is saying.
CONOR
That I have no chance. That Mayweather will school me.
KAVANAGH
He might. He's 49-0 in boxing.
CONOR
And I'm making a hundred million dollars to find out. If I win, I'm the greatest combat athlete who ever lived. If I lose, I'm still a hundred million richer. There is no bad outcome.
The fight. Conor starts strong — landing shots in the early rounds that shock the boxing world. But by round nine, Mayweather's conditioning takes over. Conor slows. Round ten: TKO. Mayweather wins.
But Conor walks out of the ring with $100 million and the respect of the boxing world. He didn't just compete. He made them nervous for four rounds.
INT. PROPER TWELVE DISTILLERY — IRELAND — DAY — 2018
A gleaming whiskey distillery. Copper pot stills. The smell of peat and barley. Conor walks through the facility with DEE at his side, inspecting barrels.
DEE
A whiskey brand? You're a fighter, Conor.
CONOR
I'm a brand, Dee. The fight game taught me something — the real money isn't in throwing punches. It's in owning the thing with your name on it. Proper No. Twelve. Named after Crumlin, Dublin 12. Where we come from.
DEE
And if it fails?
CONOR
It won't fail. Because I'll sell it the same way I sold myself — with my face, my mouth, and my name. Every person who watches me fight is going to drink my whiskey.
Proper No. Twelve launched in September 2018 and sold out in six months. In 2021, Proximo Spirits acquired the brand in a deal worth up to $600 million.
INT. SBG IRELAND — DUBLIN — NIGHT — 2020
The gym is empty except for Conor and Kavanagh. Conor hits the heavy bag — but there's something different. He's slower. Heavier. The lifestyle, the whiskey, the money — it's all taken something from the razor edge he once had.
KAVANAGH
You're not the same fighter, Conor. And that's not an insult. It's a fact. You can't live the life of a billionaire and fight like a hungry kid from Crumlin.
CONOR
I can do both.
KAVANAGH
No. You can't. Nobody can. The hunger is what made you. And you're not hungry anymore. You're fed.
Conor stops hitting the bag. He stares at his reflection in the gym mirror. The face staring back is older, richer, and maybe — for the first time — uncertain.
EXT. CONOR'S ESTATE — KILDARE, IRELAND — DAY — 2023
A sprawling mansion on green Irish countryside. Luxury cars line the driveway. Conor sits on the back steps, watching his children play on the lawn. Dee sits beside him.
DEE
Do you remember the flat? The one with the broken radiator?
CONOR
I remember everything about the flat. I remember the rice and chicken. I remember counting coins for the bus. I remember you working the night shift so I could train in the morning.
DEE
You promised you'd give me the world.
CONOR
(looking at the estate)
Did I deliver?
DEE
(smiling)
I never wanted the world, Conor. I just wanted you to be happy.
He puts his arm around her. For a moment, the Notorious is just a man from Dublin, sitting with the woman who believed in him when nobody else did.
INT. SBG IRELAND — TRAINING FLOOR — DAWN — 2024
The gym is empty. Early morning light cuts through the windows. Conor walks in alone. He stands in front of the heavy bag — the same bag he hit on his first day in 2006, now patched and re-patched a dozen times.
He wraps his hands. Left then right. Slowly, methodically. He throws one punch. Then another. Then a combination — left jab, left cross, right hook — and for a moment, the old speed is there. The snap. The pop. The timing that made him the most dangerous man in the world.
KAVANAGH appears in the doorway, watching silently.
KAVANAGH
Still got it?
CONOR
(throwing punches)
I never lost it. It's always there. Under the money, under the suits, under all the shite — it's still there. The kid from Crumlin who wanted to be champion of the world.
He turns to Kavanagh. The same eyes from 2006. Still burning.
CONOR
Let's go again.
FADE TO BLACK.
Conor McGregor became the first fighter in UFC history to hold two championship belts simultaneously. His 13-second knockout of José Aldo remains the fastest finish in a UFC title fight. The Mayweather-McGregor fight generated over $600 million in revenue, making it one of the highest-grossing combat sports events ever. Proper No. Twelve whiskey was acquired for up to $600 million, making McGregor the wealthiest combat sports athlete in history. Dee Devlin remains by his side. She was there before the first cent.
THE END