Paul Felder has explained that losing the “spark” needed to fight is what ultimately caused him to walk away from the sport.
‘The Irish Dragon’ announced his fight career was over while working on the broadcast for UFC Vegas 27.
At the UFC Vegas 27 post-fight press conference Felder gave more information about the thought process that brought an end to his MMA career.
“I really waited until I knew,” Felder said. “After the [Dan] Hooker fight, it was kind of emotional and I lost the fight and I’m far away from home and it was a struggle. But then I did find that fire again when I got the [Rafael dos Anjos] fight. I went back and did camps and I was helping Sean Brady get ready for fights and I was hitting pads, I was lifting again, I was doing all those things and just slowly over time I started drifting back towards doing my own things and really just loving doing this triathlon stuff on my own, having time, seeing my daughter everyday after school, dropping her off at school. Training in my own little pain cave at home in the garage and getting stuff done.
“I don’t think I’m going to get to the belt. I think this is the first time where I finally really think after those two losses in a row, watching guys like ‘Jacare’ [Souza] break their arm, watching guys like ‘Cowboy’ [Cerrone] fight five more fights than I think they should. I’m not going to be that guy. I’ve said from the very beginning of this sport, I won’t be that guy that fights past his expiration date and I think it’s here. I think it’s a touch early but I’d rather it be a touch early than a touch late.”
“That spark that I need to fight, especially the way that I fight, it just wasn’t there anymore,” Felder continued. “If I’m not itching to even get to training to get to do this stuff and I’m getting fight offers. The only reason it took this long is I gave everybody a chance to really convince me. The UFC was really good and really patient with me.” (Transcribed by MMA Fighting)
Do you think Paul Felder made the right call by retiring?