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COVID-19 has hit “Fight Island” pretty hard, with Gilbert Burns, Pedro Munhoz and Mike Brown, among others, all being affected by the coronavirus, forcing them to stay away from all of the action on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. And while it seemed as if Paul Felder was going to be forced to miss the trip to “Fight Island” as a precautionary measure, “The Irish Dragon” has made it to Abu Dhabi and will be calling the action this Wednesday night (July 15, 2020) for UFC on ESPN 13.
He was also be moonlighting as a cornerman at the event, too.
That’s right, Felder will take off his headphones and jump off the broadcast booth for one fight to corner his friend, Jared Gordon, after all of Gordon’s coaches from Sanford MMA in Florida — home of Gilbert Burns, as well — tested positive for COVID-19.
“Jared Gordon’s coaches and team all tested positive for CV and were not able to make the trip to corner him,” wrote his manager, Brian Butler-Au. “With no corners or coaches Jared was determined to fight and pressed through set back after setback and still made his way to Fight Island.
“In an unprecedented move, long-time friend, training partner and fellow SP teammate, Paul Felder is scheduled to commentate the remaining events on ‘Fight Island’ and has gotten clearance to come off the desk to help his friend through the fight during the event,” he continued.
In response to Gordon’s predicament, Felder confirm the news on social media, saying, “no way am I going to let my man go into a fight alone.”
Furthermore, Xtreme Couture head coach, Erick Nicksick, will also serve as a cornerman for “Flash,” who faces Chris Fishgold on the undercard of the event. Once the fight is over, Felder will get right back to work on the broadcast booth to call the rest of the action.
Entertaining fighter, commentator, cornerman and all-around great friend, is there anything Felder can’t do?