Chas Skelly (17-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) kommer härnäst att ta sig an Jason Knight (16-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) på underkortet UFC 211 i Texas. För Skelly spelar inte plats och hype någon större roll, utan fokuserar på att gå fightas inför sina trogna fans.
Det här berättar han via ’MMAJunkie’
For me, with this fight, more than gaining buzz around my name, or getting more followers or people to watch me. I wanted to fight at my home town so people from Azle could come out and watch, the people I grew up with. It’s impossible for them to get out and go watch me anywhere else. Dallas is really the only place they could come, unless there’s a card in Forth Worth or something like that.
Tickets are expensive, hotel rooms are expensive, and people can’t afford to travel and take a whole weekend and take their family and come watch me fight. So what I wanted was to fight in front of my fans and the people who’ve been following me basically my whole life, watching me wrestle since I was a kid, coming up through high school and college.
Skelly har inget otalt med motståndaren Knight, men känner att det bara finns plats för en riktig ’redneck’ i UFC:s fjäderviktsklass.
The only thing I say is, there’s only room for one redneck in this 145-pound UFC trailer park. And that’s me. I think we’re both pretty country.
Skelly har tidigare haft problem med att gå ner i vikt inför några matcher, men håller sig nu i form och har gått med två submission-vinster.
I think those losses taught me, more than anything, that you have to be smart. One of the losses taught me I have to be smart and make better decisions with when to take fights and not to take fights. The Elkins fight, I wasn’t prepared for it. My camp was just awful – no preparation. I couldn’t stay in the gym.
I think it just taught me to be smarter with my career and be persistent. Keep training even outside of camps – stay in shape. Eat right, make the weight cuts easier on myself. That’s something that I’ve really really stressed in my last couple of camps.
UFC 211 äger rum i Texas den 13 maj.
