Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
UFC’s Chas Skelly recently withdrew from UFC Nortfolk with a ‘upper-body injury’.
UFC featherweight Chas Skelly was supposed to face Grant Dawson at UFC Fight Night: Benevidez vs. Figueiredo on February 29th in Norfolk, VA. However, an injury in training has forced Skelly out of the bout and possibly out of MMA.
The Texan spoke with James Lynch of theScore about the incident.
“We had done some jiu-jitsu techniques and we were just doing some live rolls. This was a situation I’ve been in a million times. It was just a freak accident, man. It was crazy.”
Skelly didn’t divulge the exact nature of the accident or the injury, which he described only as an ‘upper-body injury’. The 17-4 fighter said he would “try” to rehab the injury, but admitted that his career was at risk.
“If I had to have another major surgery, it would probably be the end of my career. But I’m hoping I don’t. I’m thinking I’ll be able to rehab through it and maybe be back to training in eight weeks.”
“At 34 years old, it’s like my body’s just telling me it’s time to move on,” continued Skelly. “When I’m healthy … I’m training hard and I’m getting better every day. I’m at a great camp here. It’s hard to give that up with fighting when you’ve put yourself in a position, where you finally feel like you’re improving. So I’m not throwing in the towel just yet.”
Skelly has suffered major injuries in the past, including an issue with his elbow that required Tommy John surgery. Skelly spoke about how injuries like that affect a fighter’s mental state, as well as their physical body.
“When (I) hurt my elbow, I felt like my mind got stagnant. It really was a state of depression and it was tough to deal with. It’s hard for me to even go to the gym when I’m not able to train. I don’t like seeing these guys in there doing these things that I want to be doing. If I can continue to fight, great. But If I can’t, I’m not going to sit here and cry about it. I’m just going to build toward my future.”
Skelly, who has been competing for the UFC since 2014, said that if he did have to walk away from fighting he would like to become an MMA matchmaker.