Merry Christmas From Conor McGregor!

Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage

It has not been a great year for Conor McGregor.

Or at least that’s the general opinion of the MMA media, who have had to cover every controversy, criminal investigation, and conceited social media missive involving the Irish sports star. What’s true and what’s not remains uncertain, and the line between McGregor the act and McGregor the man grows ever blurrier. But every so often he takes a step away from his cocky promotional persona and presents a pretty wholesome image.

This is one of those moments. McGregor shared some pictures of his family trip to visit Santa Claus, and he included a message for his fans.

”First visit to Santa today,” McGregor wrote. “Santa told us that Christmas is the season of love and understanding! To Love each other, and to Understand each other! It is all that matters! Merry Christmas everyone.”

McGregor will be making his long awaited return at UFC 246 on January 18th, his first fight since losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October of 2018. That was the crest of a wave of negativity and hatred between the two that honestly got a little too real to enjoy. I like a heated rivalry as much as the next guy, but some of the trash talk went pretty low and then there were the brawls which felt pretty antithetical to the honor code of martial arts this sport tries to follow.

It looks like there’ll be no such bad blood in the build up to this fight with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, who has defended McGregor in the past and refuses to talk trash about his notorious opponent. McGregor has likewise kept a respectable tongue when it comes to “Cowboy,” heaping praise upon Cerrone as a fighter and a father. That’s rare indeed, so let’s enjoy McGregor’s message of love and this peaceful period coming into UFC 246, because it probably won’t last for long afterward.