McGregor’s Coach Reveals Old Rejection Email From UFC

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

The latest social media “challenge” taking Instagram and Twitter by storm is being called “how it started, how it’s going.” The whole purpose is to post an old picture of yourself be it starting school, a job, a relationship and so on, side-by-side with a current one showing the progress.

Conor McGregor’s trainer John Kavanagh decided to play along by posting an old e-mail from 2012 sent from UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby to Haraldur Nelson — Gunnar Nelson’s father — explaining why the promotion wasn’t interested in signing “Notorious” at that time.

“Thanks for the email, If I can use any of your fighters, especially Conor, I will contact you. At the moment, the featherweight division is terribly impacted from so many UFC lightweights moving down in weight,” wrote Shelby.

“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.”

At the time, the 145-pound division was ruled by Jose Aldo with fighters such as Kenny Florian, Mark Hominick and Chad Mendes gunning for his strap. Four months after that email was sent, McGregor made his UFC debut at UFC on FUEL TV 9 in Stockholm, Sweden by knocking out Marcus Brimage in the very first round (relive it here).

And the rest, as they say, is history as the follow up picture shows a sell out crowd in attendance for the UFC 189 weigh-ins in July of 2015. The following night, “Notorious” knocked out Mendes in the second round to win the interim Featherweight title in just his sixth UFC fight (see it here).

Since then, McGregor has gone on to become the promotion’s (and the sport’s) biggest star ever by breaking every pay-per-view (PPV) record imaginable, becoming UFC’s first ever champ-champ, and enjoying major cross-over success.

“Notorious” is currently in talks to make his much-anticipated return to the Octagon against Dustin Poirier in a rematch six years in the making.