Chas Skelly had a rather strange night as his opponent, Jamall Emmers, failed to follow him into the Octagon.
The two were scheduled to meet at UFC Fight Night 185. After Chas Skelly made his way into the Octagon, he started warming up. The warm-up stretched further on as Skelly waited for Jamall Emmers to step out. Instead, Joe Martinez announced that Jamall Emmers would not be showing up due to a backstage medical emergency.
A later report revealed that Jamall Emmers had had spasms in his back while standing backstage. As Chas Skelly came to terms with the development, a fighter was already making his case as a back-up fighter.
UFC Lightweight Luis Pena tagged UFC President Dana White in a Tweet, offering to step in as an immediate replacement for Jamall Emmers. Although Chas Skelly is a Featherweight, Chas Skelly said that he would cut weight if required. And step in within an hour. He wrote,
"Seriously [Dana White] let’s check weights if we’re comparable or if I need to I will cut to make this happen I want to fight tonight I’m sure chas does to let’s rebook for an hour from now."
Nevertheless, the bout was scrapped and the event went onto the next fights.
This is the third consecutive time that Chas Skelly's fight has been cancelled
Chas Skelly last competed in September 2019. He defeated Jordan Griffin via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs Gaethje. Post his fight with Griffin, Skelly was scheduled to fight Grant Dawson in January, 2020 at UFC 246. Just four days prior to the bout, Grant Dawson was forced to withdraw from the fight.
After being cancelled once, the fight between Grant Dawson and Chas Skelly was rescheduled to take place at UFC Fight Night 169. The bout was cancelled again, with Chas Skelly pulling out this time around. Chas Skelly was reportedly injured during a training session, and he pulled out of the bout on February 7.
After the second cancellation, Chas Skelly remained out of action for a year. Unfortunately, his opponent failed to show up today as well.
In the post-fight interview, Chas Skelly spoke with the media about his bout. He felt that he deserved the win bonus as he made weight and showed up. He also wished Jamal Emmers his best.