Next weekend, Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor will face off for the third and final time in the main event of UFC 264 and as the trilogy approaches, the war of words has begun.

At this point, Poirier and McGregor have a long history, having first fought one another at UFC 178 in 2014, with McGregor winning by first-round KO. Earlier this year, the two rematched in the main event of UFC 257, but this time, things were different. As opposed to the brash and confrontational McGregor who had gotten in Poirier’s head for their first fight, and older and more mature McGregor proved genial ahead of UFC 257, engaging in friendly banter with Poirier. It didn’t work out for him and Poirier knocked out “Notorious” in the second round, evening the score. Now as they head into their third fight, Poirier is anticipating a return to trash-talking form for McGregor, to try and recapture that old champ-champ magic, but “The Diamond” is ready should it come.

“The good thing about this one is if it’s crazy Conor again, I just don’t give a f*ck,” Poirier told ESPN. “I really don’t care. And in the last one too, if he’d have been crazy, I’d have been alright. Mentally, I’m not a kid anymore. I’m a grown man and I know what matters and I know what I can control. I just don’t beat myself up mentally like I used to with the critics. I think it’s gonna be crazy Conor again, I’m pretty sure....

“I wouldn’t say funny but it’s - how crazy can you be? You got knocked out last time. We put you on airplane mode in front of the world in Abu Dhabi. What can you say?”

The answer, it turns out, is a lot. As the trilogy with Poirier approaches, McGregor has become increasingly vocal on social media in preparation for the bout. Most notably, a few weeks ago McGregor posted to Twitter a billboard advertising UFC 264 with the message ‘First one to shoots a dusty b*tch.” But that, Poirier says, just reveals where McGregor is at following his first knockout loss in MMA.

“Isn’t he the one whose always preaching about the flow, the full martial arts, no holds barred, no rules, the ultimate fighting, when he’s talking about boxing and stuff, right?” Poirier said. “How about the first one to get taken down is dusty b*tch? This is mixed martial arts. Put it all together. It reeks of insecurity to me.”

Of course, McGregor is not one to take any suggestion of weakness lying down. In response to Poirier’s comments, McGregor once again took to social media and fired off several Tweets, attacking Poirier.

“Best boxer, my ass! Shooting ass, shelling ass bitch.

“Quick take for you and your team pal - You’s got pucked around in the clinch! Elbows, knees, shoulders, fists. Looking outside the cage for advice. #strikerturnedwreslter #dustybitch

“3 fights against me for any man is an early grave. God bless.”

And that’s just fine with Poirier. The former UFC interim lightweight champion knows that the McGregor he faces next weekend has his back against the wall and Poirier wants to see exactly what McGregor is made of.

“I want a blood and guts war,” Poirier said. “I want to question my will to fight. I want it to be uncomfortable from the first second of the first round. I want to find out all this stuff - that’s the thing about fighting too, the only thing that’s real is when that bell rings or whenever you show up and you’re training. That’s the only real part about fighting that I love anymore. Everything else is who can say some cool sh*t, get a lot of likes on Instagram, who can get more followers, who can do some kind of funny video. It’s just disgusting, it’s a fashion show. It’s all fake. But the real part about it is, when that bell rings, it’s 100 percent real and I want to show him that and find that out about him. Talk it up, say this, say that, let’s find out who really wants to fight, because I know I can count on me. Not a question in my mind.”

UFC 264 takes place on Saturday, July 10 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Thanks for reading and see y’all on Monday.

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