Ben Rothwell wonders: What if his Stipe Miocic fight happened at UFC Dublin in 2015?

At the height of his UFC career, Ben Rothwell was scheduled to take on Stipe Miocic, but the fight fell through.

Rothwell (37-12 MMA, 7-6 UFC), who at the time had stopped three straight opponents, was scheduled to face current UFC heavyweight champion Miocic at UFC Fight Night 76 in Dublin.

But an injury forced Miocic out, and the bout was scrapped from the card entirely. Both fighters took on new opponents on different dates, and their careers went in different directions.

Now, Rothwell wonders what could have been if that fight had happened – and said it’s a fight he’s confident would have gone in his favor.

“Stipe and I were supposed to fight October of 2015,” Rothwell told MMA Junkie. “And some weird act of God took place and he was taken from me and matched against Andrei Arlovski two months later and started a title run. So yeah – that kind of reminds me, ‘What if?’”

Miocic’s first-round finish over Arlovski at UFC 195 set him up for a title shot against then-champion Fabricio Werdum. Miocic knocked Werdum out, captured the title, and defended it a UFC heavyweight record three times.

Rothwell extended his winning streak to four when he submitted Josh Barnett. That set him up with a No. 1 contender fight against former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos, but Rothwell dropped a five-round unanimous decision.

Then came an almost three-year hiatus from the sport after Rothwell suffered an injury and was flagged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for a failed drug test. After serving his suspension, Rothwell lost to Blagoy Ivanov then Arlovski.

It was a drastic shift in his career that he thinks could have gone a different way had the Miocic fight happened.

“It’s never going to leave me that I’m a horrible matchup for Stipe in so many ways, and he goes around and he’s the ‘baddest man on the planet,’” Rothwell said. “Well, I’m just a guy who’ll beat him.”

For now, Miocic may not be in Rothwell’s radar, but he did recently snap a three-fight losing skid with a second-round finish of Stefan Struve at UFC on ESPN 7.

Next up, Rothwell takes on Gian Villante at UFC 249 in Brooklyn, N.Y., on April.

“If you look at the way the matchup is, it’s a very exciting matchup,” Rothwell said. “I think they matched us together because of the way both of us fight.”

And despite getting back in the win column, Rothwell admits the pressure is still on. He’s looking to take things fight by fight moving forward.

“I’ve gotten to a point in my career where I have to believe in myself – I just do,” Rothwell said. “I believe in my skills. I always believe that you have to show the best that I can, and I’ve just gotta get in there. And once I get in the cage, as long as I can be healthy, I believe it’s going to be a good time.

“I’m done chasing things that are out of my control. It’s just about each fight: Go out, perform my best and be exciting. That’s all that really matters.”