MMA icon Conor McGregor is sporting a whole new look ahead of his touted rematch against Dustin Poirier early next year.

The hard-hitting Irishman has traversed several weight classes during his career in UFC, from featherweight right up to welterweight – not forgetting his appearance as a ‘super-welterweight’ in the boxing ring against Floyd Mayweather.

Dana White confirmed the bout with Poirier last week. “The fight’s done, I think so, yeah,” he told Sun Sport.

The fight will see McGregor move back down to lightweight, after beating Donald Cerrone last time out at welterweight. Despite the shift down in weight, McGregor looks as strong as ever at 32 years old.

Poirier will put his 26-6 (one no contest) record against McGregor’s 22-4. Both men are southpaws and both bagged wins in their last outings – Poirier most recently taking a decision win against Dan Hooker in June.

The version of McGregor set to face Poirier is now almost unrecognisable from the original featherweight McGregor that fans watched way back in 2015. He’s currently sporting a shaven head too, just to finish off his new look.

Below you can see what Notorious looked like a few years ago, and you can see what he looks like now.

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Remarkable, isn't it? Look at how big McGregor's shoulders are now compared to what they were back in 2017... as well as his arms and his chest!

McGregor won the first fight between the pair, knocking Poirier out in round one with precision punching.

The Irish fighter opened the bout with speculative head kicks, failing to find the target and then proceeded to pot shot with accurate punches and combination work.

The feeling is that McGregor goes into this fight as a firm favourite, but we’ve seen the Irishman upset before – most famously by Nate Diaz. The big American won a victory no one expected when he choked McGregor into submission in 2016.

McGregor has since avenged that loss, taking a decision win over Diaz.

In his last visit to the Octagon, McGregor took just 40 seconds to get the job done, finishing Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone with unorthodox shoulder work and a skull-shaking kick to the head.

In many of his fights, McGregor has often looked like the smaller fighter. Now, he’s seemingly looking to add some weight and bulk to his already effective fighting style.

Fans will be eager to see if this tactic adds to – or detracts from – his iconic fighting style.