Conor McGregor called Dustin Poirier a 'dead body that's getting took out on a stretcher' ahead of their trilogy bout

• Conor McGregor is engaging in a toxic brand of trash talk ahead of his return to the UFC.
• The Irishman fights American athlete Dustin Poirier at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
• "I'm going to kill this man," McGregor said, also calling his opponent a "corpse."

Conor McGregor has seemingly vowed to kill his UFC 264 opponent Dustin Poirier as he amps up the aggro ahead of the pair's high-profile main event fight Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

"I don't give a f--- about him, to be honest," McGregor told his YouTube channel The MacLife. "It's just how I am. He's a corpse, a dead body that's going to get his ass whooped and took out on a stretcher."

The Irishman has already fought the American athlete twice, beating him conclusively in the first round back in 2014, before losing the rematch at the start of 2021 - suffering the first knockout loss of his entire career.

Poirier's win reestablished him as one of the very best lightweights in all mixed martial arts, while McGregor instead scrambles for form. The Irishman has lost three of his last four bouts in all combat sport disciplines.

A realization that he is fighting for his career is perhaps the catalyst for a toxic kind of trash talk.

McGregor analyzed the last loss and said the learning for this trilogy bout was to focus more on mixed martial arts as the last camp "was an 85% camp for boxing," as he had one eye on a crossover bout with Manny Pacquiao that never materialized.

"Setbacks are a beautiful thing," he said. "Defeat is the secret ingredient to success, I say. And it's put me right where I need to be."

However, he later added: "I'm throwing kill shots now. Every shot I have thrown in this camp is a kill shot. That's it. I'm going to kill this man."

Victory could propel the winner into a UFC lightweight title shot against the current champion Charles Oliveira.

It is a fight McGregor is desperate to land, and he wants that championship bout to take place before the end of the year at the 65,000 seater Allegiant Stadium, which is home to the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL.

"That world title will be contested in the Allegiant Stadium here in Las Vegas," McGregor said.

"I like the look of it. It's called the Death Star and that's what I'm feeling like right now."