Fourteen minutes into last night's UFC 205 media conference call it was all going so nicely.

Both McGregor and Alvarez spoke about the thrill of fighting in New York City on November 12, and the Irishman even sent some praise in the direction of the UFC lightweight champion.

Then, in the space of a single question, the mood flipped. McGregor was asked what he saw when he looked into the eyes of Alvarez back at the UFC 205 press conference a few weeks ago, and the featherweight champion didn't hold back.

"I just figured that he's a guy thinking it's a game," McGregor said. "It's like you look into these people's eyes, and it's like they don't see it as a reality just yet. They're trying to look away and make it something else. 'This isn't happening.' And then we're in the Octagon, and then we're about to fight, and I see what I see in their eyes. We came face-to-face, he tried to stand on his tippy-toes, and make these faces--it was actually a weird reaction--it humored me.

"It's like they put it off, it's like they put it off as part of a game. This is just part of something I've got to do to get to this fight. Then I see them break, bit by bit. And then we're in the Octagon, and I break them myself. So, that's it. I'm looking forward to going in.

McGregor took things once step further by describing the way Alvarez would look after he'd rendered him unconscious.

"He's claiming it's an easier contest," McGregor said. "I look forward to seeing the eyes, when the eyes roll, and the electric shock darts through his whole body and goes to his knees. And then he comes up in survival mode, and that panic sets through his whole body, his whole face.

"That's something I'm looking forward to, and I will go out there and I will punish him for that, for those words that he's saying. I'm going to retire him on this night."

Alvarez then reiterated that the Irishman would be his easiest fight in the UFC yet, but this only egged McGregor on.

"I'm going to hurt you badly," McGregor said chillingly. "I'm going to rip you up badly, I swear to God. Trust me, you're going regret that.

"I feel [people are] going to see something they haven't seen before. I'm going to toy with this man. I'm going to really, truly rearrange his facial structure. His wife and kids will never recognize him again. His friends and the people that he knows will know that he's not the same man after this contest."

After a friendly start, the call then descended into a pattern of McGregor lambasting Alvarez, while the UFC lightweight champion simply laughed off his threats verbal grenades. McGregor at one point reiterated his previous prediction that Alvarez wouldn't see it out of the first round.

"He'll get dropped, he'll be half-out, he'll be in survival mode," McGregor said. "And then? Then I'm just going to butcher him and punish him and not let him out of there.

"I don't believe he's been hit by anybody like me. I don't believe he will survive. If he does survive in that survival mode, I'm going to toy with him. I'm going to rearrange his face for his words that he's speaking right now. I still can't see him lasting one round."