In true Las Vegas fashion, Conor McGregor is backing himself against Nate Diaz - and backing himself big.
It is barely a week until Conor McGregor stares across the Octagon into the eyes of the first man to defeat him in the UFC and it seems as if the Dubliner has left no stone unturned in his quest to avenge the loss he suffered to Diaz last March.
McGregor won the first round of his fight with the Californian at UFC 196 before submitting to a rear naked choke towards the end of the second frame - a mistake that McGregor is determined to not repeat.
Speaking to ESPN, McGregor suggests he has spent as much as $300,000 in preparation for the fight.
With gyms, cars, transport, flights, accommodations - I'd estimate we're talking a $300,000 camp here. This is a big, big expense -- but what I make is big. So, in the bigger picture, it's rather small.
McGregor has taken up temporary residence in Las Vegas to acclimatise to the region and time zone in advance of next Saturday's fight. A legion of fighters, trainers and tacticians have joined the training camp - mostly at McGregor's personal expense.
Conor Wallace (above, red) has been brought into McGregor's training camp to mimic Nate Diaz.
Dillon Danis, a world class Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, has been brought in to refine McGregor's submission game, while Irish fighters Peter Queally and Cian Cowley are also among those helping the UFC featherweight champion. Conor Wallace, the rangy southpaw amateur boxer from Newry who bears similar fighting traits to Nate Diaz, has also been spending hours in the ring with McGregor as he prepares for battle.
Artem Lobov has also been on hand in Las Vegas as he prepares for his own bout at UFC 202 against Nate Diaz's training partner Chris Avila.
This strategy of tailor-made training partners represents a shift in McGregor's 'there is no opponent' mantra which he had followed for his entire career to date.
McGregor elaborated further on his motivations to ESPN:
This is most certainly not another fight. I have done things differently this fight. We have been going to war every single day in the gym in preparation for this. So, this is a war to me.
War will be waged in the small hours of next Sunday morning. And it will be fascinating to watch.
