Conor McGregor is on the warpath.
Fresh from being called Forbes magazine's highest-paid athlete of 2020, the Conor "Notorious" McGregor has taken some time out of his festivities to show off his shredded body to fans as he prepares to meet Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July.
The longtime featherweight and lightweight 'champ champ' posted a set of new workout pictures/selfies to the social networking site, Instagram, and it has to be said, evidently laid off the carbonated drinks as part of his latest, well-deserved festivities, McGregor is looking in great shape.
The first image posted to McGregor's Instagram account is a side-on shot of the Irishman standing by the weights area of the gym, in which the Notorious demonstrates that he hasn't been avoiding bicep curls of late: his right arm is well-defined and, possibly, stronger than ever.
The next photo was the sort of mirror selfie my wife's 35-year-old post-lockdown excuse for a husband might only think of: McGregor puffs out his trapezoid and deltoid muscles like an alpha gorilla protecting its territories against a new male invader.
As it turns out, the Irishman isn't just posting these workout selfies to make me feel nervous. As previously said, McGregor is due to face Diamond Dusty Poirier for the final time at UFC 264 Fight Live on July 10 and has been preparing for the fight in Dubai.
The Poirier battle has taken on added importance for McGregor since, at UFC 178 in 2014, the Irishman was much too hot to manage for his American adversary, KOing him in the first round.
The second contest, which took place in January of this year, had a somewhat different result.
Poirier brought McGregor to a halt in the first round with well-placed shots to the calf, and then, after some brutal volume boxing of the Irishman up against the cage, Diamond slapped him to the canvas to secure a KO/TKO victory in the second round.
As a consequence, the winner of the next trilogy fight will be willing to declare themselves the stronger guy once and for all, which is presumably why McGregor has been bulking up.
One point of concern is that McGregor did significantly bulk up for his second battle with Poirier, which he lost.
Many fans commented that he appeared sluggish than normal, and that the Irishman's footwork and the karate-style stance and strikes he's famous for (and which helped him win against Poirier seven years prior) were missing from his results.
McGregor's head coach, John Kavanagh, strongly disagreed with any of this, telling SunSport:
"All he has now is a lot of strength, which is frightening."
Personally, I'm undecided.
Anyone who has seen the first battles between McGregor and Poirier will remember that Poirier fails to consume the McGregor remaining. In reality, despite losing the second match to the Louisiana resident, the Irishman rocked him many times in the first round.
There's no doubt that McGregor has the ability to drive Poirier out.
The main issue is whether McGregor will move his fresh, heavy body out of the way of Poirier's calf kicks faster this time.
And if he can't, it might be another tough night for the traveling Irish fans.