Conor McGregor gets nod of approval from MMA star Claudia Gadelha after shaving off his beard

The Dubliner, who is reportedly back in Ireland after filming the reboot of 1980s classic Roadhouse, had taken to social media to cheekily give followers the finger after they noticed his clean-shaven new look.

“"F**k all yous talking bad about my beard ya’s’ll do nothin,” he declared alongside a picture of him with his face covered.

“A Lion without his mane,” one fan had said, while another added: “Who tf is that guy.”

One fan suggested: “We made Conor self conscious about shaving his beard.”

But Claudia Gadelha who remains a star in her native Brazil despite having decided to retire from mixed martial arts due to concussion-related symptoms, applauded McGregor’s choice of headgear.

She commented: "Gangsta! I got the same beanie!"

Conor had appeared without his beard in pictures taken alongside his partner Dee Devlin in which they posed in matching retro airline uniforms for Halloween.

The UFC star was dressed as pilot Frank Abagnale from the film Catch Me If You Can while Dee went out as an air hostess for the party in McGregor’s Black Forge Inn.

The Notorious captioned the picture: “The sky is the limit, come fly with me.”

#happyhalloween @theblackforgeinn while Dee added: “Let’s fly, let’s fly away.”

However, his family later issued a statement denying that his mum Margaret wore “blackface” for Halloween after it sparked controversy online.

Some fans on social media accused her of wearing ‘blackface’, which is considered highly offensive and racist in many parts of the world.

However, McGregor’s family has come out strongly to deny the claims, insisting that it was spiders painted on her face to go alongside her red dress and necklace with three skulls attached.

A spokesperson for the McGregor family was quoted as saying: “The McGregor family loves Halloween. Mrs McGregor had spiders painted on her face since her costume was a ghoul risen from the grave.

“Any other interpretation was just wrong and truly unfortunate.”

The Irishman has been filming a re-make of classic movie Road House with Jake Gyllenhaal in the Dominican Republic.

When he completes those obligations, he says he'll jump straight back into training.

He had declared: “That will give me a good couple of months [to prepare].

“Once I wrap this up in a couple of days, get the camp going [for] a good couple of months. And get going.”

Fans are hoping to see McGregor make a long-awaited return to the return to the octagon in 2023 having not fought for the entirety of 2022.

In fact he has not fought since he suffered a horror leg break during his trilogy match against Dustin Poirier.