Dustin Poirier wasn't getting Conor McGregor's undivided attention heading into their rematch earlier in 2021.
The lightweights met for the second time at UFC 257 in January, with Poirier scoring a second-round TKO win after losing to McGregor in a 2014 featherweight bout.
McGregor had been in talks for a boxing match against Manny Pacquiao during the second half of 2020, and that was apparently still on his mind as he prepared for the Poirier rematch.
"I pitied the man, to be honest with you. I was looking past him," McGregor said of Poirier in an interview with ESPN's Stephen A. Smith. "I had a Manny Pacquiao camp in place. That was three-quarters of the camp."
McGregor is scheduled to meet Poirier in a trilogy bout at UFC 264 on Saturday, and the former two-division champion is confident his focus on MMA training will be the difference-maker.
"I've dialed it back in," McGregor said. "I've focused on the skills and the tactical errors and things like that, and here we are. It's been full focus on mixed martial arts practice, and I'm ready to go."
UFC president Dana White said earlier this week he believes McGregor is taking the rubber match with Poirier a "lot more serious than he did the last fight."
"He's in his own little world doing his thing," White told The Mac Life, according to MMA Fighting's Damon Martin. "He feels like the old Conor McGregor."
Poirier and McGregor are slated to settle the score at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
