Is Conor McGregor's trash talk fair play or crossing the line?

Trash talking from Conor McGregor is no new thing to the UFC or MMA fans. After the UFC 264 press conference on July 8th, 2021, I had flashbacks of the old Conor McGregor. Conor McGregor is known for using mental warfare with his opponents before their fights. In his previous fight versus Dustin Poirier he was very nice and respectful throughout the buildup to the fight which was a different side of Conor. He lost via knockout and will be fighting Dustin again this Saturday, July 10th. The two fighters traded back and forth trash talk during the press conference but the real trash talk came later in the night on Twitter. Conor released a screenshot of an Instagram DM request from Dustin's wife to himself. 

Dustin later responded with a reply to a picture Conor posted of himself saying "Your trash talk is as thin as your hair these days! See ya soon champ champ". Conor then crossed the line and responded with a tweet about Dustin's wife. 

This isn't the first time we've seen Conor get under peoples skin before fights to make them on edge. He trash talked Jose Aldo in the weeks leading up to their championship fight. We've also seen Conor tweet to Russian MMA superstar Khabib Nurmagomedov in the past before their fight calling his wife a towel in reference to a religion based ceremony. 

I personally do think that deep trash talking makes the fights more personal and interesting but where does the respect line need to be drawn? Trash talking does sell the fights and the Conor and Khabib fight was the highest PPV and sellout event in UFC history. Bad blood can make fights personal for even the fans which is why I think Conor trash talks so much. This is a big reason why he is so popular, I am excited to see if he can beat Dustin this weekend and secure a UFC Lightweight Championship shot.