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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Harry Davies

Conor McGregor offered chance to corner UFC star against Khabib Nurmagomedov's cousin

UFC bantamweight Brian Kelleher has offered Conor McGregor a spot in his corner for his fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov 's cousin.

Kelleher will fight Umar Nurmagomedov, the cousin of now-retired UFC champion Khabib, at UFC 272 on March 5.

Nurmagomedov is undefeated in 13 professional fights and won his UFC debut last January by choking out Sergey Morozov to win a $50,000 performance bonus.

The Russian was linked to a fight with Jack Shore at UFC London in March, but will now return to the cage on the promotion's upcoming pay-per-view event.

And Kelleher has offered Khabib's longtime rival McGregor a chance to corner him in his upcoming fight.

"[Conor McGregor] Hey would you like to corner me in my next fight at UFC 272 against Khabibs cousin Umar," Kelleher wrote on Twitter.

Brian Kelleher wants Conor McGregor in his corner for his upcoming fight (Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

McGregor was submitted by Khabib in their lightweight title fight at UFC 228 in 2018, but a post-fight brawl will forever overshadow the event.

Both men faced fines and suspensions for their involvement in the brawl, with Khabib refusing to ever fight in Las Vegas after the incident.

McGregor tried his best to lure Nurmagomedov into a rematch after the loss, but the Russian would fight just twice more before retiring with a flawless record of 29-0.

And Kelleher explained how the idea of offering McGregor a chance to corner him came around.

"I'm going to try to get Conor in my corner man. Let's stir the pot a little bit," he told The AllStar.

"My friend, who has nothing to do with fighting, we were sitting and having coffee. He's like, 'dude, you should tweet Conor right now and I'm telling you, he might respond because of the whole Khabib thing!'

"Conor likes to stay in the limelight and I was like, you know what, let me throw it out there and see what happens and it kinda went somewhat viral.

Should Conor McGregor corner Brian Kelleher at UFC 272? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below

"A couple of media outlets covered it and a lot of hype got behind. You know what, I'm having fun while I'm doing this. None of this is real personal, it's just me having fun."

Kelleher will hope to extend his unbeaten run to three fights and break into the top 15 at 135-pounds with a win against Nurmagomedov.

'Boom' even joked he would welcome Khabib back to the cage to avenge his cousin if Kelleher is to get the win at UFC 272.

"Undefeated guys, they've got a lot of pressure. He wants to stay undefeated with that last name, he wants to repeat that whole thing," he added.

"Khabib, he might have to come out retirement and redeem some cousin defeat, I'll go up to 155-pounds and take a beating for $5million, why not?"

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