Grant Dawson withdraws from UFC 246 bout vs. Chas Skelly

UFC 246 is down a featherweight bout.

Grant Dawson announced via Instagram that he has been forced to withdraw from his scheduled matchup with Chas Skelly, which was to take place at UFC 246 in Las Vegas this Saturday.

According to Dawson (14-1), he won’t be competing due to “circumstances out of my control.” He added that he and the UFC are working on rescheduling the bout with Skelly.

Dawson, 25, has won his first two UFC fights following a successful appearance on the first season of Dana White’s Contender Series in 2017. His Octagon debut was delayed when he failed a drug test following his Contender Series appearance, resulting in a provisional suspension from the USADA and his release from the UFC. Dawson went to arbitration with the USADA, but a decision was never rendered; instead, the agency ruled that because of uncertainty surrounding the long term properties of the M3 metabolite (the same banned substance recently tied to UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones), Dawson would not be sanctioned.

His provisional suspension had lasted 15 months and he would eventually be re-signed and make his UFC debut with a win over Julian Erosa last March.

MMA Fighting has reached out to UFC officials for more information and an update will be provided when available.

Read Dawson’s full statement below:

I’m heartbroken to report I won’t be fighting this weekend at UFC 246 due to circumstances out of my control. I’d like to apologize to everyone who was looking forward to this fight. We are working with the UFC to get my bout rescheduled as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience during this time, and I hope to have fight news very soon.