Ronda Rousey paved the way for sportswomen in the UFC but, as a year of silence and recuperation prepares to end, the inaugural cage queen will find that her presence never truly left.
Rousey, in a flash of liberating charisma, changed female fighting from a covert, underground pastime to a multi-million dollar career path in 2013 with her UFC debut until it all came crashing down 13 months ago in a shock defeat.
Whether or not Rousey reclaims her world title from Amanda Nunes in her comeback this week, the evidence of her trail-blazing has blossomed even in her excruciatingly muted absence.
An Olympic bronze medal coupled with a magnetism that was the envy of every male counterpart in the pre-Conor McGregor era allowed Rousey to become the first female to fight in the UFC, MMA's most notable and lucrative stage.
Back then, as she beat Liz Carmouche in the organisation's first women's fight, a generation of female athletes with unrealistic ambitions suddenly realised they could scale the same heights.
"Compared to 13 years ago when I first got involved in MMA, it's an environment now that is much more welcoming towards women," Rosi Sexton, the first British woman to fight in the UFC, told Sky Sports. "It's much more accepted now that women do compete in this sport to a high level.
"Quite a few people contact me and say, 'because of you, I've been inspired or my daughter has been inspired'.
"When those girls can see women compete at the top level, they think, 'that could be me'. That's what means the most to me."
Rousey was the first female to garner such adulation from a younger generation for whom fighting was never a plausible, professional option but the American's rise also gave hope to those who fought before her, like Manchester's Sexton.
Raquel Pennington is another who may still be fighting in the shadows if not for Rousey. "I was rehabbing and working out in my gym and saw a MMA class going on," she said, in a story typical of her peers forced to fight for acceptance.
"I told my mum 'I've seen this on TV, I'd like to give it a go'. She told me to go for it. I started training, I was a natural, and four months later I was in the cage for the first time.
"There's so many women who don't like to go to a gym and exercise in front of guys because they don't have that confidence. Do this sport, it's a whole different ball game. I now get messages from women of all ages who are inspired to live an active lifestyle."
Building confidence is the recurring theme so perhaps what originally separated Rousey was the innate self-belief that she possessed even before her career choice reaped rewards. As her dominance inside the cage burgeoned her popularity (three consecutive opponents in 2014 and 2015 lasted a combined 64 seconds) her eventual conqueror was taking inspiration, too.
Holly Holm, whose stunning knockout stripped Rousey of her unbeaten record and her reputation last year, also got started in inauspicious fashion, telling Sky Sports: "I'm the first MMA fighter to start with an aerobics background.
"Our rise in the UFC shows that women can achieve whatever they want. You'll see everyone is chasing a dream. When women see other women fighting, they'll realise this is a viable and accepted choice of athletics." Six months after these words, Holm's surprise win over Rousey garnered her the attention that she could never have foreseen when first strapping on gloves.
The shock knockout sent Rousey, the former pin-up, into a hiatus that finally ends this week in pursuit of the belt she inaugurated. But in her place, other female fighters have raised the bar in terms of performance inside the cage, and fame outside of it.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the straw-weight champion, might be the most talented female fighter ever while Paige VanZant's popularity has sky-rocketed since her Dancing With The Stars exposure.
"I could be part of a Hollywood movie, why not? It's going to be difficult. I hope my new management get me to Hollywood. It isn't my biggest goal - I want to be remembered as the best athlete."
"I modelled and acted prior to fighting - that's something I'm still passionate about, although I'm dedicated to fighting right now," VanZant told Sky Sports.
"I don't think you'd find too many fighters in the modelling world. Stereotypically, when you think of a fighter, they don't look like us. This sport should give girls a sense of empowerment that they can do whatever they want. I want to be a voice for people who don't feel like they fit in. This is breaking barriers."
Rousey enters as a challenger this week against the new champion, Nunes, who herself is a pioneer as the UFC's first openly gay title-holder. Their headline appearance wouldn't have been possible without Rousey's early progress, a fight that she unanimously won, judging by the development of those who carried the baton in her absence.
New customer winter madness offer: save over 40% on your Sky Sports Month Pass, just £20