UFC Fight Night: Jacare vs Mousasi Prelim Breakout Star: Chas Skelly

(Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports)

The Prelim Breakout Star is a once per event article that helps fans get to know those who will be entertaining them from the undercard. The intention of the article is not to bring attention to the most talented guy on the preliminary card, but rather one that the common fan may have overlooked or underestimated.

Weight cutting issue. Match change. Weight cutting issue. Hot tub head trauma. Match change. Boos at weigh-ins. It certainly was an eventful lead up to UFC 177, which was eventually aired on pay-per-view with only eight fights. Despite the criticism by those expecting a far better card in order to dish out the dough, the fights delivered. There was a solid back and forth co-main event, a nice knockout of a game challenger and more than a few nice finishes. With Ultimate Fight Night 50 this weekend in Ledyard, CT, let’s hope for all of the good and less of the pre-fight controversy.

Chas Skelly

Nickname – The Scrapper
Affiliation – Team Takedown
From – Bedford, Texas
Height – 5’11”
Weight – 145 lbs (Featherweight)
Record – 12-1 (1-1 UFC)
What make him impressive

Training at Team Takedown with the likes of welterweight champion Johny Hendricks, there’s no secret where Skelly’s strengths lie. However, unlike Hendricks, Skelly has made a habit of mixing his collegiate wrestling pedigree with sneaky submissions. And these submissions reach far beyond the typical wrestler’s head and arm choke or guillotine. Skelly has won fights using both knee bars and barbo chokes. Quite an array of grappling chops indeed.

Why he has been overlooked

Thirteen days. When Chas Skelly steps into the cage he will be thirteen days removed from his first UFC win. Hard to build a lot of hype in such a short period of time. This though is yet another of Chas Skelly’s strengths. Only two fights into his MMA career he was offered at fight at Bellator 9. At the time of that fight, he had only had twenty days rest. He was successful, taking home a hard fought split decision win. Apparently the man doesn’t need sleep.

What makes this a good matchup

Sean Soriano brings a lot of grit and heart into all of his fights. Given that he’s made his home at the Blackzilians, he also has quite the cardio. But one thing that he does have a little difficulty with is strong wrestlers/grapplers. In his last fight, Tatsuya Kawajiri went three-for-four in dragging him to the ground. It marked the first time he had ever faced a high level grappler and seemed to point out a gameplan for all that follow. If he didn’t shore up those holes, he’ll likely find the same result this weekend.

Prelim Breakout Stars:

Record: 42 Wins, 21 Losses, 2 Did Not Fight (DNF)

1. Francisco Trinaldo – UFC on FX: Belfort vs Bisping (W)

2. Simeon Thoresen – UFC on Fox: Johnson vs Dodson (L)

3. Tyron Woodley – UFC 156 (W)

4. Vaughan Lee – UFC on Fuel: Barao vs McDonald (W)

5. Dennis Bermudez – UFC 157 (W)

6. Cristiano Marcello – UFC on Fuel: Stann vs Silva (L)

7. Daron Cruickshank – UFC 158 (L)

8. Ryan LaFlare – UFC on Fuel: Mousasi vs Latifi (W)

9. Bart Palaszewski – TUF Finale (L)

10. Yoel Romero – UFC on Fox: Henderson vs Melendez (W)

11. Rustam Khabilov – UFC 159 (W)

12. Fabio Maldonado – UFC on FX: Belfort vs Rockhold (W)

13. Khabib Nurmagomedov – UFC 160 (W)

14. Antonio Braga Neto – UFC on Fuel: Nogueira vs Werdum (W)

15. Roland Delorme – UFC 161 (W)

16. Seth Baczynski – UFC 162 (L)

17. Jorge Masvidal – UFC on Fox: Johnson vs Moraga (W)

18. Ednaldo Oliveira – UFC 163 (L)

19. Mike Brown – UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs Sonnen (L)

20. Dylan Andrews – UFC Fight Night: Condit vs Kampmann (W)

21. Soa Palelei – UFC 164 (W)

22. Elias Silverio – UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs Bader (W)

23. John Makdessi – UFC 165 (W)

24. Alan Patrick – UFC Fight Night: Maia vs Shields (W)

25. Andre Fili – UFC 166 (W)

26. Jimy Hettes – UFC Fight Night: Machida vs Munoz (W)

27. Germaine de Randamie – UFC Fight for the Troops 3 (L)

28. Omari Akhmedov – UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs Henderson (W)

29. Sergio Pettis – UFC 167 (W)

30. Roxanne Modafferi – TUF Finale (L)

31. Takeya Mizugaki – UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs Bigfoot (W)

32. Alptekin Ozkilic – UFC on Fox: Johnson vs Benavidez (W)

33. Siyar Bahadurzada – UFC 168 (L)

34. Mairbek Taisumov – UFC Fight Night: Saffiedine vs Lim (W)

35. Charlie Brenneman – UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs Philippou (L)

36. Walt Harris – UFC on Fox: Henderson vs Thompson (L)

37. Clint Hester – UFC 169 (W)

38. Joe Proctor – UFC Fight Night: Machida vs Mousasi (W)

39. Aljamain Sterling – UFC 170 (W)

40. Zak Cummings – TUF China Finale (DNF)

41. Cyrille Diabate – UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs Manuwa (L)

42. Mats Nilsson – UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs Manuwa (L)

43. Alex Garcia – UFC 171 (W)

44. Hans Stringer – UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs Henderson (W)

45. Jim Alers – UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs Nelson (W)

46. Ryan Jimmo – TUF Finale (W)

47. Caio Magalhaes – UFC on Fox: Werdum vs Browne (W)

48. Joe Ellenberger – UFC 172 (DNF)

49. Kyoji Horiguchi – UFC Fight Night: Brown vs Silva (W)

50. Francisco Trinaldo – UFC 173 (L)

51. Iuri Alcantara – UFC FIght Night: Mousasi vs Munoz (W)

52. Paulo Thiago – TUF Brazil Finale (L)

53. Jon Tuck – UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs Khabilov (W)

54. Mike Easton – UFC 174 (L)

55. Ian Entwistle – UFC Fight Night: Marquardt vs Te Huna (L)

56. Ray Borg – UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs Stevens (W)

57. Rob Font – UFC 175 (W)

58. Derrick Lewis – TUF Finale (W)

59. Jessamyn Duke – UFC Fight Night: Cerrone vs Miller (L)

   60.  Nikita Krylov – UFC Fight Night: McGregor vs Brandao (W)

   61.   Patrick Cummins – UFC on Fox: Lawler vs Brown (W)

   62.   Sam Alvey – UFC Fight Night: Bader vs Saint Preux (L)

   63.   Yuta Sasaki – UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs Le (W)

   64.   Ben Saunders – UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs dos Anjos (W)

   65.   Damon Jackson – UFC 177 (L)