With the first fight week of Fight Island underway, Paul Felder sat down with the media to give his thoughts on the 155lb division. Felder himself, despite being a common sight at the commentary box for UFC events, is currently ranked 8th in the Lightweight division.
In a video posted by The Mac Life YouTube channel, Felder discussed the main event of UFC 257. Specifically on the point of Conor McGregor, Felder remarked that “we just see the way he’s talking, the way he’s training. He looks to be in the best shape of his life.” He also said marvelled that “for him to make the money he’s got, and the success he’s got, to want to come back and still fight, I think shows where he’s at mentally.”
On the topic of McGregor, Felder was asked his thoughts on the Irishman’s comments in regards to Felder’s heritage. In a tweet that has since been deleted, McGregor declared that the surname Felder was not Irish, as the nickname ‘The Irish Dragon’ would seem to imply. However Felder stated that “My last name is German. I know I’m not Irish, I’m not German. I’m not Italian, I’m not Swedish. I’m American.” He went to to say that “I also did not give myself the Irish Dragon nickname, as a matter of fact I fought against it, for the first few fights of my pro career because I freaking hated it. I thought it was stupid. It got put together because I did Karate, Lyoto Machida was one of my favourite fighters, The Dragon. And then this guy was like well your Irish, The Irish Dragon.”
Felder concluded the topic by saying “if I ever had to fight him, maybe I’d come out as The German Dragon for that one just for fun.
The Irish Dragon is set to commentate on both Fight Island 8: Chiesa vs Magny, as well as UFC 257. As for his MMA career, he is coming off a decision losses to RDA and Dan Hooker. Whilst his next opponent has not been announced, speculation had been growing that his new opponent may be Nate Diaz, who had recently been linked with a move to 155lbs. However, Felder flatly stated that there has been no communication in regards to a Diaz fight. Despite this, he did say that ” I would absolutely love that fight…. I’ll fight him (1)85, 205, doesn’t matter.”
Whilst there doesn’t appear to be too much bad blood between the two, would you be interested in a matchup between Paul Felder and the ‘Notorious’ one?