If there was a moment in time that best sums up the meteoric rise of Conor McGregor in recent years from trash-talking unknown to mainstream superstar, it may have been the one-liner delivered at the UFC 205 news conference in 2016. 

Asked by a media member which fighter who joined him on stage at New York's Madison Square Garden would give him the hardest fight, McGregor was interrupted by hard-hitting featherweight Jeremy Stephens, who bravely offered up his name. In a retort that created a never-ending amount of memes and became an instant addition to the brash Irishman's growing lexicon of insults, the two-division champion turned around and dismissively said, "Who the f—- is that guy?"

Two years later, the landscape couldn't be anymore different for the two fighters in question. McGregor (21-3), who picked up a reported $100 million in a boxing loss to Floyd Mayweather last year, is closing in on two years idle from the Octagon. Now he awaits a court date later this month in New York for his April attack on a bus holding fighters -- including lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov -- two days before UFC 223. 

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Stephens (28-14), meanwhile, just might have risen to the point where it would be hard to find someone who watches UFC even casually and doesn't know his name. He's closing in on a shot at the other title stripped of McGregor by UFC due to his inability to defend them when Stephens faces former featherweight champion Jose Aldo on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night in Calgary (8 p.m. ET, FOX). 

UFC Fight Night: Emmett v Stephens
Stephens rides a three-fight win streak headed into this weekend.  Getty

Fresh off a three-fight win streak, the 32-year-old Stephens looks poised for the first time in his career to evolve from dangerous slugger with an all-or-nothing mentality to a calculated finisher on the verge of finding out, thanks to maturity, how good he can be. And in case you're wondering, the whole "who the f--- is that guy" thing is something he doesn't think is all that funny. 

"You know, it's funny because a lot of people, they took the funny side of it like, 'who the f—- is that guy?'" Stephens told CBS Sports' "In This Corner" podcast on Friday. "But the f---ing funny thing is -- and it's funny or may not be -- that I was actually stating fact. When I hit people, they don't f---ing move. This guy TKOs people. When I hit people, they don't f---ing move. That's a fact. 

"You guys can take the funny side and laugh all you want, but if you go back and look at the f---ing tapes, there is people that I have retired that literally don't move. They are literally like, 'Is this guy OK?' They have to take an extra long break on Fox because it's just too hot to put on TV. I told these guys that I don't f--- around. When I hit you, you're gonna not f---ing move and then you're going to wake up asking what happened. You guys can laugh at it all you want, but go back and check the facts. I'm a f---ing scary dude. People don't want to get in there with me because they know they are going to get flattened out."

In case you're new to Stephens during his recent close-up, which manifested following a pair of destructive knockout wins over Doo Ho Choi and Josh Emmett, he's not one to mince words or get caught up worrying about things like rankings, bonuses, title shots, scouting reports or anything extraneous that fails to directly relate to knocking people out. 

Asked if he has ever had any further contact with McGregor after that infamous exchange, Stephens' voice turned sour. 

"No, I got to squeeze up on his mom after I knocked [defeated Gilbert Melendez at UFC 215]," Stephens said. 

OK then. 

Pressed even further as to whether he envisions a day when he and the 30-year-old McGregor may squash their beef inside the Octagon, Stephens let it be known which topic is the only one he prefers to speak about at the moment.

"I don't know, I don't really care," Stephens said. "I'm here to talk about [Saturday]. If you are here to talk about Conor, call Conor up."

Stephens' fight on Saturday is a good one as the 31-year-old Aldo (26-4), fresh off a pair of knockout losses to reigning champion Max Holloway, will need to prove against an increasingly confident and dangerous opponent that this isn't the beginning of the end. 

True to form, Stephens isn't interested in breaking down what went wrong for Aldo against Holloway or in his 2015 one-punch knockout loss to McGregor, saying, "I don't care." He had the same answer about whether a victory over Aldo would rightfully put him next in line for the title. 

"I'm going to go in there and expose Aldo for what he is," Stephens said. "He hasn't evolved, he's on the decline. I just believe I'm better than him in every aspect of my game. Conor took his head, Max took his heart and I'm going to take a knife and dig into some meat and bone here."

As one can see, getting Stephens to share his unfiltered thoughts on another human being isn't a difficult task provided he cares enough to do so. Unbeaten featherweight contender Brian Ortega, who was supposed to challenge Holloway at UFC 226 on July 7 in Las Vegas, is one of those people. After Holloway pulled out due to concussion symptoms, UFC president Dana White asked Ortega to accept a challenge from Stephens for an interim 145-pound title on just three days' notice, to which Ortega declined. 

UFC Fight Night: Emmett v Stephens
Stephens is focused on owning the featherweight division.  Getty

"They don't make them like me anymore," Stephens said. "[Ortega] had a full camp. My fight was a couple of weeks later. I was ready to rock and roll. I don't know what he's doing. I just know he's crying about how he didn't get paid but he didn't step up and fight, so you don't get paid and you can go back home and cry back to mama about that one.

"It's a different era out there I guess. I'm not going anywhere, he's not going anywhere but his best chance to beat me was without a coach and dehydrating myself. But in the future if we face each other, he's f---ed."

While Stephens wouldn't necessarily commit to the idea that the new crop of UFC fighters are necessarily soft, he does come from a different era (he turned pro in 2005 and debuted with UFC in 2007) and is certainly wired in a completely old-school manner. 

"This is my time and I don't really care what everybody else is doing," Stephens said. "I'm out here enjoying my moment and this is what we sign contracts for -- to fight. I didn't know we signed contracts to do runway shows and be modeling and doing other bullsh--. This is the fight business, so shut up and fight. I don't really give two sh--s what the fans think of me. Like I said a long time ago, I'm not here to be famous. I'm not trying to please anybody or my mom and dad. I'm here to whoop your ass and go home and take care of my family."

If there's a reason for the positive change in Stephens' career, the native of Iowa points to his decision to finally stick with and buy in on one head coach -- Eric Del Fierro of Alliance MMA -- after years of always looking over his shoulder for a possible upgrade. After one full year working exclusively with Del Fierro, Stephens describes his current evolution as a stew that has been simmering for some time. 

"You've got to let everything sit and marinate and it's got to be the right time," Stephens said. "I feel like it's prime time to be eating. [Del Fierro] is one of the best head coaches in the game. Ever since he has been on board, it makes my job at lot easier. I'm not battling myself and my mind. I'm just showing up and putting in the work and putting in all my life lessons and experience. It's my time right now and I've never really believed in myself like I have to this day. I'm just ready to go out there and give 110 percent, and when I do that, there's blood painted on the canvas."