‘There is a line’: Fans OUTRAGED as Conor McGregor drags Dustin Poirier’s wife into UFC 264 feud, posts image of ‘DM request’

They say all is fair in love and war, and this is an assertion to which Conor McGregor appears to subscribe to after he posted a screengrab to social media showing a supposed direct message request from Dustin Poirier's wife.

The seven-year rivalry between McGregor and Poirier will see its third chapter this weekend in Las Vegas and if January's first rematch between the two warring lightweight standouts was marked by a trash-talk ceasefire then it appears that any such accord has run its course this time around.

Just a day after McGregor posted a bizarre voice note to Poirier in which he said he was "coming for" him and referred to the Louisiana native as a "hillbilly", McGregor fired another shot on social media after going public with the apparent message request sent to him on Instagram by Poirier's wife, Jolie.

It is unclear as to whether or not McGregor ultimately accepted the supposed request, or if the two exchanged messages - but he clearly saw little issue in announcing that Jolie Poirier has been attempting to contact the Dubliner just days in advance of the high stakes UFC 264 main event. 

The relationship between McGregor and Dustin Poirier has certainly degraded in recent months, and in particular after their unusually amicable (by McGregor's standards, at least) exchanges on 'Fight Island' seven months ago. 

On that occasion, McGregor especially was all smiles and spoke of his "honor" at once again facing Poirier - even displaying admirable sportsmanship after the American won the fight by second round TKO. 

McGregor had even announced a charitable donation of $500,000 to Poirier's 'Good Fight Foundation' - something which was retracted in the weeks which followed with McGregor instead opting to donate the sum to a separate charity in the Lafayette, Louisiana area. 

Jolie Poirier, along with her husband, is one of the directors of the foundation and had previously thanked McGregor for his charity work - with both captured exchanging pleasantries backstage in January shortly after the fight concluded. 

McGregor presented the screenshot without comment so there is little point speculating as to Jolie's motivations for attempting to get in contact with him - but this slightly more volatile version of McGregor clearly didn't miss an opportunity to go public with it.

The move, though, wasn't met with unanimous approval by fight fans online.

"How about you not share sh*t like this. I get you want an edge to the fight but she’s a good person and whatever this is has nothing to do with the fight," said one. 

"Her husband KO’d you out of revenge for a previous fight. What do you think he’s going to do to you when you mess with his wife? I’ve always been a fan, but keep it between the two of you," responded another.

"Don’t bring the wife in this like you did with Khabib. There is a line," said a third.