After some soul searching earlier this year, Paul Felder
isn’t contemplating retirement following his latest defeat.
When Islam
Makhachev was forced to withdraw from the UFC Fight Night 182
headliner, “The Irish Dragon” stepped in on less than one week’s
notice to square off against Rafael dos
Anjos on Saturday night. Although he lost a split decision,
Felder exited the bout in a totally different mindset than he did
following a February loss to Dan Hooker.
After that setback, Felder openly considered calling it a career
before ultimately reconsidering.
“I can tell you guys with certainty: I’m not going anywhere right
now,” Felder said during his post-fight interview with Michael
Bisping. “I lost my passion for this sport pretty bad. I can
tell you I’m not done. I might lose my ranking a little bit, but
what I’ve learned in this sport is none of that matters. What
matters is going out there, showing up, showing who you are inside
and what determination you have.”
Felder did well landing offense when the fight was in the center of
the cage but struggled when dos Anjos forced the clinch, pushed him
into the fence and took him down. That ultimately proved to be the
difference. Felder admitted that he hadn’t done much in the way of
MMA specific training in recent months while training for a
triathlon.
“I got a little tired there in the fifth, but I really think the
problem is I was in striking shape and in really good cardio shape
for the triathlon, but I hadn’t grappled,” Felder said. “I’ll be
honest. Now I can be completely up front with you guys: I have not
stepped foot in an MMA gym in almost four months. So [my
performance] was completely based on pure endurance training and
some pad work.
“Coming here and cutting over 22 pounds in four days, Thursday
night was probably one of the darkest nights of my life cutting
that weight, but I said I was going to be the first one on that
scale, [and] I was the first one on that scale. I said I was going
to give hell to a former world champion and give five rounds if I
had to, and we just gave a five-round battle.”
On a card that was plagued by multiple fighters missing weight,
Felder also had a message for those who struggled with the
scale.
“For the guys that missed weight and couldn’t make it here tonight,
get your stuff together, hire a nutritionist, get on the scale,
make weight, and go perform. I was dying on Thursday night to get
on that scale at 156 pounds and I did it,” Felder said.
Regardless of what the future holds, Felder seems to have gained
the passion he needs to keep moving forward with his MMA
career.
“This is exactly what I wanted,” Felder said. “This sport breaks
you, man. It’s tough. I see it day in and day out when I’m calling
these fights. I needed something to motivate me again. … To get a
split decision [against] this guy, and I think we got ‘Fight of the
Night,’ I just hope the UFC is proud of me and happy, and I hope
everybody back home – I love you guys. This was for my dad, this
was for my family. This was for you guys.”