Chas Skelly is an up and coming featherweight prospect and former competitor for Bellator FC. Known for his confident (and borderline cocky) attitude, Skelly thinks highly of his abilities – especially his wrestling, but his overall MMA game is still green and developing.

Skelly comes to MMA after a solid amateur wrestling career at both the high school and collegiate levels. A Texas State Wrestling Champion at Azle high School, Skelly would make his way to Oklahoma State University where he would earn NAIA All-American status and finish ranked as high as fourth overall during his stay. Unorthodox in his style, Skelly isn’t your prototypical MMA wrestler. He has a grinding, methodical style to his takedowns which is in contrast to the more explosive, straight forward double and single legs takedowns that many wrestlers employ. Skelly works hard to take the fight to the mat and shows good chain wrestling abilities (linking together different attempts/manoeuvres to try and secure the takedown). He’s proven very adept at generating scrambles, and then using his wrestling arsenal of single legs and effective body lock trips and takedowns to successfully secure top position. Although Skelly is a long, lean featherweight, he possesses deceptive strength and wouldn’t be considered a “weak” 145 pounder. In addition to his wrestling, Skelly’s BJJ game is also developing nicely. He possesses an active submission game and is particularly good at taking his opponents back. From top position Skelly looks to posture up in an attempt to land heavy punches and elbows. His grappling game, while a work in progress, does hold interesting upside.

Skelly has an unorthodox, funky style to his striking game. He’s a lanky featherweight who’s awkward in his approach and movement, and will need work on his footwork. Skelly will look to work his jab and overhand right although technically he remains quite green. He will need to continue developing his striking game, although recognizing that Skelly has begun shifting his focus to his boxing and muay thai training.