'I'm RARING to go: Ex-UFC champ Conor McGregor leaves little to the imagination in training photo as he looks RIPPED in the gym

Days after claiming that he is in a "tremendous space" ahead of a potential fight in January against Dustin Poirier, Conor McGregor has told his haters that they will accuse him of boasting alongside a self-portrait inside a gym.

Former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion McGregor is expected to return after a year out against familiar rival Dustin Poirier in January, offering an insight into his training regime as he posed topless with the flag of his native Ireland visible in the background.

Wearing a heart rate monitor and a pair of skintight blue trunks that appeared to accentuate the outline of his crotch, the man who announced his retirement for a third time in June offered a typically enigmatic message.

"If I tell you I am good, probably you will say I am boasting," he added. "But if I tell you I’m not good. You’ll know I’m lying."

The provocative post backed up media-savvy McGregor's latest impromptu social media question-and-answer session, which he finished by likening himself to MMA icon Bruce Lee.

"I am raring to go and in the best place I’ve ever been," he declared. "Excited to show my practices to the world. Still awaiting official confirmation, however."

McGregor repeated his insistence that he had been ready to fight several times this year, revisiting a row with UFC president Dana White over his lack of action during a period when the planning of fights has been hugely disrupted by the pandemic.

"[I was] ignored on the three dates I put forward - three consecutive dates, I might add," he told a fan.

"Would have had me at four fights this calendar year. [That was followed] by being sidelined because of no crowds in attendance.

"I said, 'f*ck this' and bounced. Four fights this era would equal six million pay-per-view buys. How much [money] lost?"

Now 32, McGregor pointed to the long career of one of his heroes, Anderson Silva, and said that he still felt "very young" before claiming that he had recorded knockdowns that had not been scored during his fights with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Eddie Alvarez.

Looking back on a horrific injury he said he had sustained during his points victory over Max Holloway in 2013, he analyzed his reaction to one of his opponent's kicks by revealing: "I fully ruptured my left ACL the round before this.

"The kick almost has me putting weight onto that left leg. With no stability in it, I jump to the right leg - ending in a type of pistol squat - to save any weight being put on the ruptured leg, which would’ve caused it to crumble."

Summarising his achievements, McGregor said: "Fastest KO in a UFC title fight. Most knockdowns in a UFC title fight. Featherweight belt. Lightweight belt. Champ Champ."