An American UFC fighter wants Conor McGregor to work with him to try and antagonize the Nurmagomedov family

• An American fighter is trying to use Conor McGregor's name to rattle the Nurmagomedov family.
• Brian Kelleher's plan spectacularly backfired, though, as McGregor did not respond.

American UFC fighter Brian Kelleher wants Conor McGregor to work with him so he can seemingly try and antagonize the Nurmagomedov family.

Kelleher fights Umar Nurmagomedov in a bantamweight match March 5 during the UFC 272 event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Umar is a cousin of Khabib Nurmagomedov, the former UFC lightweight champion who retired unbeaten in 2020 having beaten a who's who of elite MMA fighters like Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, and Conor McGregor.

Khabib and McGregor shared a heated rivalry after the Irishman insulted the Dagestan wrestler's background, nationality, and family, long after Nurmagomedov submitted him with a neck crank in the fourth round.

"Hey, would you like to corner me in my next fight at UFC 272 against Khabib's cousin Umar?" Kelleher tweeted McGregor at the weekend.

Kelleher's plan to apparently manipulate McGregor's bad blood with the Nurmagomedov's to upset Umar spectacularly backfired.

McGregor did not even respond, and Umar seemed unfazed at the prospect.

"It's not gonna help you, Brian," he said.

Nurmagomedov and Kelleher compete on the main card of the 14-bout pay-per-view event that will be broadcast on ESPN next month.

Elsewhere that night, Kevin Holland fights Alex Oliveira at welterweight, Edson Barboza fights Bryce Mitchell at featherweight, and Rafael dos Anjos fights Rafael Fiziev at lightweight.

Former friends turned welterweight rivals Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal take part in a highly-anticipated main event.