PHOTO | Conor McGregor has bulked up ahead of UFC 246

At UFC 246, former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor will return to the Octagon for a welterweight clash with the fan favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Ahead of this fight, McGregor has packed on quite a bit of mass, evidently taking full advantage of the fact that he won’t have to cut much weight for the fight.

See the buffed-up Conor McGregor below:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6q35vKJ-La/

Around the same time McGregor posted the above photo on Instagram, he took to Twitter to share his thoughts on fighters who cut significant amounts of weight to take on smaller opponents.

Weight cuttin pussies

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) December 29, 2019

“Weight cuttin pussies,” McGregor wrote.

McGregor has fought twice previously in the welterweight division, going 1-1 in two welterweight fights with Nate Diaz in 2016. Fans who saw those fights will recall that the Irishman’s cardio seemed to suffer in the face of the weight he put on to fight in this heavier division. Time will tell how his cardio holds up against Cerrone.

McGregor has not fought since October of 2018, when he was submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov in a bid to reclaim the UFC lightweight title. His next most recent fight before that was a blockbuster boxing match with undefeated legend Floyd Mayweather Jr., while his second most recent MMA fight occurred all the way back in 2016, when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez to claim the lightweight belt. Because he still held the UFC featherweight belt at the time, this made him the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously. He’s 21-4 in MMA competition.

Cerrone, on the other hand, will enter his fight with McGregor riding a pair of stoppage losses to top lightweight contenders Justin Gaethje and Tony Ferguson. Prior to that, he rattled off back-to-back wins over lightweight contenders Al Iaquinta and Alexander Hernandez. Cerrone holds the UFC records for most wins and most finishes. He’s 36-13 overall.

What do you think of this apparent mass gain from Conor McGregor? Will pay it off in the main event of UFC 246?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 12/29/2019.