Conor McGregor threw a kick at Dustin Poirier and made crude comments about his wife during a wild press event

• Conor McGregor appears more desperate than he's ever been.
• Previously, his trash talk used to work so well it directly impacted the results of his fights.
• These days, the only person whose mind he's affecting is his own.

The magnitude of Saturday's UFC 264 event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas may have finally dawned on the former two-weight UFC champion Conor McGregor.

The Irishman is in desperate need of a victory. He may have beaten Donald Cerrone, but the American had already lost twice in a row when McGregor vanquished him in 40 seconds in January 2020.

The last time McGregor posted a meaningful win was in 2016 when he put in a career-best performance to finish Eddie Alvarez in the second round.

Since then, he's been submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov, stopped on his feet by Floyd Mayweather in the 10th round of a boxing match, and knocked out by Dustin Poirier.

On July 10, McGregor returns to the Octagon for a trilogy bout against Poirier.

A fourth loss in three years will remove any lingering doubts that the McGregor of old is gone for good. That McGregor wouldn't be coming back.

"He's done here. This is it for him. This is the end of the road."

Those are the words one of the combatants said Thursday, according to ESPN. It wasn't Poirier talking about McGregor, but rather, the other way round.

It felt like McGregor might have been projecting his own fears about his career onto Poirier.

Poirier is one of the UFC's pound-for-pound stars, he's fit, he's on-form, and he will have many options regardless of which way the weekend's MMA match goes. Poirier will not be done.

McGregor, by contrast, could be.

"For me, the aura is not there anymore," Poirier said, adding that McGregor is a "very dangerous fighter sitting right here, for sure. No doubt. But I see a man.

"You guys in the crowd, cheer it up, have fun. But I see a man sitting here in front of me that I have defeated and I know I can defeat again."

This could be a key reason why McGregor has been apoplectic over the last 24 hours.

Just six months ago, it was McGregor who was done. He was calf kicked to hell, shellacked against the fence, and beaten to the floor. Poirier achieved a victory nobody in MMA had achieved over McGregor before - a knockout finish.

That may well happen again, and McGregor has been lashing out all week because he perhaps knows that a second knockout loss in the same year would leave his career in tatters.

McGregor appears desperate

Earlier this week, McGregor said he'd leave Poirier as a corpse. He called Poirier a "dead body that's getting took out on a stretcher."

At the media event Thursday, he threw bottles of Poirier's branded hot sauce around - directing some at Poirier himself - just months after smiling and posing with that same hot sauce ahead of their rematch.

At last night's face-off, he threw a kick at Poirier's leg, which the American laughed at, before security held back the Irishman to prevent him from doing any damage.

It is remarkable what a difference a loss can make, particularly when that loss is one of a number of late. McGregor appears more desperate than he's ever been before.

The biggest controversy was left for Twitter, though. McGregor had hinted at bringing Poirier's wife Jolie into his trash talk, claiming this week that she had tried to message him through social media.

At the press event, he said Jolie is Poirier's husband, which Poirier dismissed as a poor attempt at trash talk.

Later, he tweeted: "Your wife wants to see the hair around my d--- and balls bro."

He added: "Man to man, it's all f----- up."

Poirier is yet to reply.

McGregor's trash talk succeeded many years ago, and the mental warfare impacted the results of some of his fights.

He got under Poirier's skin in 2014, with Poirier later admitting that he was too raw a novice and allowed McGregor's pre-fight antics to get to him.

McGregor famously wouldn't leave Jose Aldo alone either, irritating the Brazilian fighter so much that he went charging for him in their featherweight fight one year later, only to get knocked out in 13 seconds.

These days, his trash talk seems to work far less, and the only person who's mind McGregor may be affecting with these shenanigans is his own.