When Conor McGregor marched onto the stage for Ultimate Fighting Championship's Thursday press conference ahead of his eagerly-anticipated trilogy fight with longtime rival Dustin Poirier, it was as if someone placed a timewarp on the stairs leading up to the platform.
After spending recent times as 'Conor The Whiskey Magnate' and 'Conor The Chilled, Respectful Big-Name Veteran', McGregor has used UFC 264 fight week to metamorphose back to the brash, abrasive, justification to hire extra staff on seven-second delay duty that made him a household name in the first place during his tear through the promotion's charts, en route to becoming the first fighter to hold UFC titles at two weight classes simultaneously.
Poirier will remember that version of McGregor better than many. He was a noteworthy victim of the Irishman's rise to prominence back in September 2014, finished off in the first round.
And obvious driving instincts such as vengeance and redemption were no doubt as important to Poirier's rematch victory via second-round stoppage this past January as his picture-perfect gameplan, based on neutralizing Conor's famous stance with leg kicks and leaving him ripe for the finish. But the distinct lack of notoriety to "The Notorious" may well have been more telling than at first met the eye.
There was a large wave of speculation surrounding McGregor's application toward the second Poirier clash. He looked set for a huge money-spinning back in a boxing ring vs. Manny Pacquiao later in 2021, four years after making incredible bank in defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jr. That fortune was also brought up: was he simply rich enough to no longer care about wins and losses?
Perhaps 'Conor The Chilled, Respectful Big-Name Veteran' didn't care. Perhaps the whole thing felt like an exhibition fight to him (which is something he and 'The Diamond' had discussed on social media in the early stages of making the rematch happen, back before they hit a wall formed of the words in each man's UFC contract), and perhaps it was time to retire if that were true.
The fact that McGregor is back for a series decider against one of his greatest adversaries strongly suggests that won't be the case this time around. And while seeing fighters in both boxing and MMA resort to hackneyed acts of animosity out of the blue during the hard-sell of a bout is often groan-inducing, there may well be more to McGregor aiming an on-stage kick at the American and making things personal by talking about his wife than pushing through an extra 10-20k buys.
You can hit the gym for 12 weeks solid, study tape and do everything right ahead of a big fight or a big match in other sports. But, for a lot of athletes, being in a 'war' mentality is more important than anything else.
It's arguable that McGregor wasn't ready for war in January. He certainly was in 2014, and he won. And take nothing away from Poirier's performance in the second installment, because he will know to bring more than that exact gameplan to the rubber fight. But he was certainly more driven in Abu Dhabi, having only held an interim version of the lightweight title and knowing that the dominant Khabib Nurmagomedov, who conquered Dustin when he attempted to cash in his placeholder status, was now retired. That also remains the case for Saturday.
Swear words, antiquated slurs about gender assignment and attempts to start the physicality two days early could simply be McGregor's way of snapping back into the mental frame of mind needed to match Poirier's hunger and intensity, the 'alter-ego' that has won him most of his fights.
Nurmagomedov was, of course, the exception to this rule back in 2018. But Poirier was put away by this version of 'Mac' seven years ago, and much like how greats like soccer's Neymar, pool's Earl Strickland and even former McGregor foe Mayweather in boxing have reached a higher plane as 'the bad boy' of their respective realm, 'the old' McGregor may determine whether Conor can continue to thrive in MMA or if he should indeed hang up the gloves.