Conor McGregor is up to his old tricks of playing mind games with Dustin Poirier before UFC 264

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Conor McGregor is up to his old tricks of playing mind games with Dustin Poirier before UFC 264

The lead-up to the rubber match between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor is looking a lot like their first meeting.

McGregor (22-5 MMA, 10-3 UFC) was able to get inside Poirier’s head before they fought in 2014 and made quick work of “The Diamond” with a first-round TKO at UFC 178. They ran things back more than six years later at UFC 257, but the build-up was friendly before Poirier exacted his revenge with a second-round TKO.

This time around, things appear to have turned south between both men, starting with the dispute over McGregor’s promised donation to Poirier’s Good Fight Foundation. After some back-and-forth between the two, McGregor decided late Monday night to leave Poirier (27-6 MMA, 19-5 UFC) a recorded audio message on Twitter.

“Dustin … peahead … I’m coming for you, peahead. … Silly hillbilly,” McGregor says, almost whispering.

“Peahead” is what McGregor constantly called Poirier in the lead-up to their first fight. So is McGregor trying to mirror his UFC 178 pre-fight antics by poking fun at Poirier again? Will it work?

We’ll find out Saturday when they square off in the UFC 264 main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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Conor McGregor is up to his old tricks of playing mind games with Dustin Poirier before UFC 264