He became a sensation last year after asking UFC boss Dana White to sign him up, and now Nate Kelly has turned his hand to acting.

The confident young Dubliner, who has titles in both kickboxing and Jiu Jitsu, teamed up with Irish filmmaker Gerard Walsh for the clip to promote Conor McGregor’s upcoming fight.

It has gone viral since Walsh first shared it on Facebook last week, with McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh among the thousands to praise it.

“We’re delighted with the reaction,” Nate’s mother Sara told breakingnews.ie.

The film takes McGregor’s own comments about facing adversity and coming back after defeat to Nate Diaz in March and juxtaposes them with a visual story of a young boy finding the courage to deal with bullies.

As McGregor says he will “never shy away from a challenge”, we see Nate first daunted by older boys, but finding the guts to face them thanks to his passion for martial arts.

“It was shot over two days,” Sara explained. “Gerard and Nate met last year and hit it off so together they worked on the idea for the clip.

“Nate loved it, he had a brilliant time.”

She said he had no fears about being in front of the camera: “He was straight into it.

“Gerard said last year he seems to shine in front of the cameras.”

The clip is themed around finding the courage to face bullies but, despite his brushes with fame, Sara said Nate hasn’t experienced any negativity from his own age group.

“I think from being around adults so much for training, he is very strong-minded. He still has the same friends and their reactions have all been very positive.”

His profile is set to rise higher soon, with a Channel 4 documentary about his skill and devotion to martial arts set to air this autumn.

Nate regularly trains in the same gym as his hero McGregor. Judging by Walsh’s video, he may be soon joining him on the world stage.