ATLANTA – Ian McCall has been out of action for 18 months. He’ll have to wait a little longer to get back to work.

McCall (13-5-1 MMA, 2-3-1 UFC) today had his main-card opening flyweight fight at UFC 201 against Justin Scoggins (11-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) yanked out from under him when Scoggins’ weight cut went awry.

McCall will still step on the scales at Friday’s official weigh-ins to receive at least his contracted “show” money, as well as to serve as an alternate should there be any additional unforeseen issues.

“Uncle Creepy” was still cutting weight when he spoke to MMAjunkie, and the flyweight veteran said he actually feels a bit for his opponent despite the canceled bout.

“Whatever,” McCall said. “As much as I like Justin, I want to be a (expletive) and say something, but whatever. Weight cutting isn’t good for you, and if you don’t do it right – and he’s young, he’s probably stupid about it. But he’s a good fighter, so hopefully this won’t tarnish his name too much.

“It’s weird that I feel bad for him, but this weight cutting (expletive) is horrible for you. I’m just getting it done because I’m getting paid.”

UFC 201 takes place Saturday at Philips Arena in Atlanta. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS2 and UFC Fight Pass.

Scoggins abandoned his cut when the weight stopped coming off. He told MMAjunkie exclusively that he’ll now abandon the flyweight division for bantamweight in the future.

Scoggins did propose a catchweight contest, but McCall admitted he was against such an arrangement, especially since it’s backfired on him in the past, including a January 2015 bout with current bantamweight contender John Lineker.

“I’ve already been screwed more than once in this situation, so I’m not going to do it again,” McCall said.

UFC officials said a decision has not yet been made on McCall’s payment arrangement for UFC 201. Meanwhile, UFC officials told MMAjunkie that Ryan Benoit vs. Fredy Serrano will replace McCall vs. Scoggins on the evening’s pay-per-view main card.

In the meantime, McCall hopes he’ll get booked again quickly, preferably at next month’s UFC 202 event in Las Vegas.

“That would be cool,” McCall said. “It’s a big card. I think I deserve it.”

And even though Wilson Reis, who was supposed to challenge for the UFC flyweight title, recently received a replacement opponent in promotional newcomer Hector Sandoval, McCall said he’d be happy to take on Reis, instead, so the two top contenders could perhaps determine a challenger to current champ Demetrious Johnson.

“I would love it,” McCall said. “It would put me in a very short line to Demetrious.”

For more on UFC 201, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.