This is not a joke.

For the third time in four months, fan favorite flyweight Ian McCall has had a fight cancelled just days before it was supposed to happen. He’s been forced to withdraw from his planned bout with Neil Seery, which was to headline the Fight Pass Prelims of the UFC’s Saturday return to Belfast, Northern Ireland. McCall has been pushed out of the bout with an illness, which apparently took effect before he had even began cutting weight.

This news was first reported by MMAJunkie.com on Friday.

McCall was scheduled to take on Justin Scoggins on the undercard of UFC 201 in late July. Regrettably, this bout was cancelled on the eve of battle when Scoggins failed to make weight. Just over a month later, McCall had another bout cancelled, as a planned showdown with Ray Borg was removed from the UFC 203 lineup when Borg came down with an illness. Needless to say, it has not been a great year for McCall, who has not fought since he came up short to John Lineker in January of 2015.

This fight with McCall was intended to be the last of Seery’s career. The Irishman announced his intention to retire post-fight in September of this year. With the fight cancelled, however, Seery has decided to put his retirement plans on the back burner.

“[I’m] not going out like that,” the flyweight veteran said in a statement obtained by MMAFighting.com.

Seery also made a short statement about the bout’s cancellation on Twitter, assuring that his main concern was McCall’s well-being.

Fuck all else matters once @Unclecreepymma is alright we can always do it again get healthy pal 👊🇮🇪 — Neil 2 Tap Seery (@NeilSeeryMMA) November 18, 2016

“F*ck all else matters once [Ian McCall] is alright we can always do it again,” he said. “Get healthy pal.”

Seery’s Tweet also suggests he’d be up for rescheduling the bout once McCall is healthy again. Considering how entertaining this fight looked on paper, that’s good news.

In the wake of the cancellation of this bout, the UFC has confirmed that Seery will still receive his show money. McCall, regrettably, will not.

What do you make of the cancellation of this fight? Sound off, PENN nation!