LAS VEGAS – Onetime UFC flyweight title challenger Tim Elliott almost withdrew from his second consecutive octagon bout.

No one would have blamed him. Elliott’s coach, Robert Follis, took his own life two weeks ago.

Elliott (14-8-1 MMA, 3-6 UFC) has decided instead to honor his contract to fight Mark Delarosa (9-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC 219.

“I spent two months training every day with a guy, and now he’s gone,” Elliott told MMAjunkie in advance of his UFC Fight Pass-streamed bout on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “I’m never going to get another chance. I don’t want to waste his time, and I don’t want to waste mine.”

Follis’ shocking death, which prompted an outpouring of grief from the MMA industry, came on the heels of an already traumatic month for Elliott, who was scheduled to face Pietro Menga (13-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) earlier this month at UFC on FOX 26.

When Menga came in heavy, the promotion requested a catchweight bout. Elliott and his coaches declined and were at the brunt of online insults from MMA fans, who berated him for requesting his show and win money to compensate for the lost flyweight bout. In turn, he berated the promotion.

Elliott had just moved from Kansas to Nevada to take his career to the next level. He bought a house for $270,000. He specifically joined up with Follis at Xtreme Couture.

“Now, I’m stuck in a spot where I don’t really want to be here anymore,” Elliott said. “(Follis) was the reason I was here. All the Xtreme guys are awesome, but the fact of the matter is, I moved here to be near him. So I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

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When Elliott’s teammates and coaches arrived from Kansas to corner him, there was talk of withdrawing from the bout, a bantamweight contest booked to make his weight cut more manageable after his ill-fated bout at flyweight.

Elliott said he couldn’t sleep, and he’d been “drinking quite a bit and not eating.” When he stepped onto the promotion’s scale at the beginning of fight week, he was 134 pounds, 14 less than when he showed up for the canceled fight.

“I thought that staying at it and keeping my mind busy would make it where I wasn’t stuck in my head so much,” Elliott said. “But there’s little things, like going to the (UFC Performance Institute), that will trigger me, and I get a little emotional. And I never fight with any emotion.”

Eventually, longtime coach and UFC veteran James Krause convinced him to compete. Elliott, though, is uncertain how he’ll feel inside the octagon with such a huge shadow lingering overhead.

“I’m a little worried how my emotions are going to play out,” he said. “I don’t want it to wear me out. I feel if I can just get in there and do what I love to do, then everything will be fine.”

For more on UFC 219, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.