Imagine what it would have been like had Conor McGregor never secured a UFC contract.

The entire sport and franchise would have been so different to what it currently is today. After all, the Irishman has been an icon and a trailblazer of the sport.

A figure like no one before him and more than likely a figure like no one after him. In fact, McGregor isn’t just an MMA legend, he's a sporting legend.

None of this would have happened, however, if UFC hadn’t reversed their original decision to not sign McGregor. Yes, at first, they decided against signing the Irishman.

Back in 2012, when The Notorious was a Cage Warriors two-weight world champion, having already bagged featherweight and lightweight titles, he was all but set to unleash himself in the UFC.

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However, Sean Shelby had other plans.

In an email shared by McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh, Shelby told Haraldur Nelson, father of Gunnar Nelson, that he couldn‘t sign McGregor because of a wealth of featherweights on the roster.

"Thanks for the email. If I can use any of your fighters, especially Conor, I will contact you," he wrote, as per The Mirror

"At the moment, the featherweight division is terribly impacted from so many UFC lightweights moving down in weight.

So, I'm not looking to sign anyone else for a while, but hopefully, it will clear up soon and guys like Conor will get the opportunity.

But what’s written in the stars cannot be changed.

Just two months later, Marcus Brimage lost his opponent for a fight in Sweden, leading the way to McGregor having his moment and finally being called up. We all know what happened thereafter.

McGregor, on his debut, knocked Brimage out in just 70 seconds. He has since done all right, hasn’t he?

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He’s got the better of Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier, knocked Jose Aldo out inside 13 seconds in a featherweight title fight and taken on Floyd Mayweather and Khabib Nurmagomedov in what remains one of the most iconic fights in history. 

Funny how history could've been so, so different.