Tag: Paul Felder

Paul Felder reveals return to USADA testing pool, coy on potential UFC return: ‘I’m getting old’

Paul Felder returns to USADA testing pool UFC return I'm getting oldAmid suggestions of a potential return to mixed martial arts following a May 2021 retirement from combat sports, former UFC lightweight contender, Paul Felder has now confirmed his return to the USADA (United States Anti-Doping) testing pool, whilst remaining non-comittal on a comeback to the Octagon. Felder, a former lightweight contender under the banner of […]

Paul Felder returns to USADA testing pool UFC return I'm getting old

Amid suggestions of a potential return to mixed martial arts following a May 2021 retirement from combat sports, former UFC lightweight contender, Paul Felder has now confirmed his return to the USADA (United States Anti-Doping) testing pool, whilst remaining non-comittal on a comeback to the Octagon.

Felder, a former lightweight contender under the banner of the Dana White-led promotion, most recently headlined a ‘Fight Night’ billed event at the UFC Apex facility against former undisputed champion, Rafael dos Anjos – suffering a split decision loss to the Brazilian over the course of five rounds.

Turning his talents to color-commentary in the time since, Felder, who featured in a three-man booth last weekend for a UFC Fight Night SIngapore event, claimed he was inspired to explore the possibility of a one final walk to the Octagon by the retiring former featherweight title challenger, ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung.

Paul Felder has returned to the USADA testing pool

And linked with a stunning comeback to combat sports, Felder has interestingly revealed he has enrolled in the USDA testing pool again, all whilst remaining non-committal on a return to mixed martial arts competition. 

“I have no idea,’ Paul Felder said of his chances of a return on the ESPN pre-fight show ahead of UFC Paris. “I rolled with MIchael (Chiesa) today. Honest to God, it blew up on social. I’m back training, I’m enjoying MMA again.”

“For all the people that think I need a complete both hip replacements, I have bad hips there’s no secret about that. I’ve had bad hips for years, but I am back in the USADA testing pool. That’s exactly where I’m at now, but that is it. That is it. I did it just in case, I’m getting old and there might some old dudes out there that might want to dust it up in six months. Other than that, I have no idea. I”m enjoying training.” 

Would you like to see Paul Felder make a return to the UFC?

Paul Felder weighs up MMA return after UFC Singapore: ‘Korean Zombie got me wanting to go once more’

Paul Felder weighs up UFC return from retireement Korean Zombie walk one more timeFormer lightweight contender turned color-commentator, Paul Felder has claimed he has been considering making a return to mixed martial arts competition having called the action at UFC Fight Night Singapore last weekend – taking in former featherweight title challenger, Chan Sung Jung’s final combat sports walk. Felder, 39, has been sidelined from active competition since […]

Paul Felder weighs up UFC return from retireement Korean Zombie walk one more time

Former lightweight contender turned color-commentator, Paul Felder has claimed he has been considering making a return to mixed martial arts competition having called the action at UFC Fight Night Singapore last weekend – taking in former featherweight title challenger, Chan Sung Jung’s final combat sports walk.

Felder, 39, has been sidelined from active competition since he filled in on short-notice for current undisputed lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, suffering a one-sided unanimous decision loss to former division titleholder, Rafael dos Anjos. 

The defeat came as the Philadelphia favorite’s second consecutively following a another main event defeat to New Zealand striker, Dan Hooker in Auckland back in February of that year.

Retiring from mixed martial arts competition following his loss to Brazilian veteran, dos Anjos, Roufusport staple, Felder has teased a potential comeback for one final bout on multiple occasions since his retirement from the sport, however, at the time of publication a comeback has failed to come to fruition. 

Paul Felder flirts with a potential return to MMA competition

Serving as a color commentator alongside UFC Hall of Fame inductee and former middleweight champion, Michael Bisping in Kallang, Singapore over the course of last weekend, Felder called the action as Max Holloway landed a spectacular third round KO win over ‘The Korean Zombie’ – and has since claimed he has been inspired by the South Korean to weigh-up a stunning return.

“@KoreanZombieMMA got me wanting to go once more…” Paul Felder posted on his official X account. “Damn you, Zombie. Seeing him face that crowd one last time. Epic moments. Can’t get that main event out of my mind.” 

Over the course of his Octagon tenure, fan-favorite striker, Felder has turned in notable victories over the likes of Danny Castillo, Daron Cruickshank, Josh Burkman, Stevie Ray, James Vick, Edson Barboza, and former lightweight champion, Charles Oliveira. 

Would you like to see Paul Felder make a return to the UFC?

Bobby Green issues warning to Paul Felder, blasts his UFC commentary: ‘He knows what time it is’

Bobby Green hits out at Paul Felder he knows what time it is UFC commentaryOff the back of his official ‘No Contest’ against Jared Gordon at UFC Vegas 71 last weekend, lightweight veteran, Bobby Green has issued a warning to promotional color-commentator, and former contender, Paul Felder, taking umbrage with his emotional commentary of his former teammate’s knockdown at the hands of Green. Green, a staple of the promotion’s […]

Bobby Green hits out at Paul Felder he knows what time it is UFC commentary

Off the back of his official ‘No Contest’ against Jared Gordon at UFC Vegas 71 last weekend, lightweight veteran, Bobby Green has issued a warning to promotional color-commentator, and former contender, Paul Felder, taking umbrage with his emotional commentary of his former teammate’s knockdown at the hands of Green.

Green, a staple of the promotion’s lightweight division, featured on the main card of UFC Vegas 71 last weekend against New York native, Gordon, fighting to an eventual official ‘No Contest’ after an accidental headbutt saw the latter dropped, before he was finished on the ground with follow-up strikes.

Complaining in emotional fashion regarding the stoppage and ‘No Contest’ ruling amid the accidental clash of heads, Felder was heard on air assuring the broadcast team that he was calm, as former Roufusport teammate, Gordon made his way back to his feet. 

Taking issue with Felder’s incensed response to the stoppage, Bobby Green claimed that himself and the Philadelphia native would speak about things when they meet face to face.

“We’re going to have some words when I see him,” Bobby Green said of Paul Felder during an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. “I’m gonna wait until we see each other face to ace. When we see each other, he knows what time it is, too. It’s just like, bro, stop with all that emotional bullsh*t.”

Bobby Green hits out at UFC alum, Paul Felder

Replying to Green’s comments, Felder, a former perennial contender at the lightweight limit, claimed he was awaiting their confrontation.

“Look forward to it, king,” Paul Felder tweeted. 

“I understand the criticism,” Paul Felder tweeted. “I got emotional. It was a friend. But it was also a pretty awful clash of heads that almost resulted in a TKO. I respect (Bobby) Green as a fighter. I do apologize for letting my emotions into play, but there is no need for threats. You don’t have to like me.” 

Paul Felder set to replace Joe Rogan for the UFC 283 commentary team

Paul FelderFormer UFC fighter turned commentator, Paul Felder is set to sub in for Joe Rogan as the first UFC PPV of the year approaches.  UFC 283 is set to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The typical PPV commentary team is Joe Rogan, Daniel Cormier, and Jon Anik, however, Rogan has been adamant about […]

Paul Felder

Former UFC fighter turned commentator, Paul Felder is set to sub in for Joe Rogan as the first UFC PPV of the year approaches. 

UFC 283 is set to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The typical PPV commentary team is Joe Rogan, Daniel Cormier, and Jon Anik, however, Rogan has been adamant about no longer covering international events. So, Paul Felder will be booking a flight to Rio this time around to join Jon Anik, who will handle the play-by-play duties, as always, and Daniel Cormier, who will share the color commentary duties with Felder. 

Paul Felder rounds out the UFC 283 broadcast team

Paul Felder has become a fan favorite since retiring from active competition. Felder often shares the color commentary duties for the UFC Fight Night Events and provides some great insight and amazing reactions to what he’s seeing inside the octagon.

Apart from Joe Rogan, the usual suspects will be in Rio for the first UFC PPV of the year. The post-fight show will feature the likes of Gilbert Melendez, Michael Chiesa, and Din Thomas. While Megan Olivi will handle her usual pre and post-fight interviews backstage. 

And of course, with it being the first PPV of the year, Bruce Buffer will be present to introduce all the fighters.

Paul Felder will be the only newer face on the PPV team, however, he is slowly becoming a regular feature on the international PPVs as he also filled in for Joe Rogan on the UFC 280 card. 

Paul Felder will be in the commentary booth at UFC 280 in place of Joe Rogan

dc paul flder jon anik ufc 280Paul Felder, former UFC fighter, will be replacing Joe Rogan in the commentary booth for UFC 280 this weekend. UFC 280 is one of MMA’s biggest events of this year but will be without its long-time voice, Rogan. Rogan made his first appearance as part of the UFC production team in 1997 at UFC 12. […]

dc paul flder jon anik ufc 280

Paul Felder, former UFC fighter, will be replacing Joe Rogan in the commentary booth for UFC 280 this weekend. UFC 280 is one of MMA’s biggest events of this year but will be without its long-time voice, Rogan.

Rogan made his first appearance as part of the UFC production team in 1997 at UFC 12. Fighters such as Mark Coleman, Dan Severn, and Vitor Belfort, among others were competing at this event. Notably, Rogan was such a fan of this growing sport that he refused payment instead he just wanted to work on a project he was highly passionate about. He has been in and out of the UFC booth ever since. Typically Rogan will only do USA cards.

Former top-ranked UFC lightweight Paul Felder will take Rogan’s place at the upcoming UFC 280. Felder made his commentary debut in 2017, on FOX Sports, while he was still an active combatant. The UFC 280 main event will be a battle for the vacant UFC lightweight throne between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev. Felder, in fact, holds a 2017 victory over Brazil’s Oliveira.

For UFC 280, Paul Felder will be joined by the consistent voice of the UFC, Jon Anik, and UFC Hall of Fame fighter Daniel Cormier.

Felder is known for his animated and passionate reactions to fights. See below for a highlight reel of Paul Felder reacting to matches he has called.

Paul Felder retired from combat sports

The Philadelphia-born fighter only announced his retirement from UFC competition in 2021. ‘The Irish Dragon’ went through five wars as his last fights and lost three via close split decision. Despite his top-ten ranking at the time, Felder explains his reason for walking away from active UFC competition. He said:

“That spark that I need to fight, especially the way I fight, it just wasn’t there anymore. If I’m not even itching to get to training and get this stuff and getting fight offers. And the only reason it took this long is because I kind of gave everyone a chance to convince me. The UFC was really patient with me and called me several times. We had a conversation to see where my head was at, and we had this conversation twice recently, and the second one I called Sean (Shelby) and said, ‘I’m retiring this Saturday. I’m done.’”

Your commentary booth for UFC 280 will be Jon Anik, Paul Felder, and Daniel Cormier.

Paul Felder recounts squashing beef with Marvin Vettori: “If Marvin wanted to kick my a**… he probably could”

paul felderFormer UFC lightweight turned commentator, Paul Felder, said he and Marvin Vettori have squashed the beef started by a Twitter feud. When UFC fighters (or commentators) engage in public online back-and-forths, it is likely at some point their paths will eventually meet and that’s exactly what happened when Paul Felder and Marvin Vettori met up […]

paul felder

Former UFC lightweight turned commentator, Paul Felder, said he and Marvin Vettori have squashed the beef started by a Twitter feud.

When UFC fighters (or commentators) engage in public online back-and-forths, it is likely at some point their paths will eventually meet and that’s exactly what happened when Paul Felder and Marvin Vettori met up last year.

During an appearance on The MMA Hour, Felder recounted an incident when he and Vettori had to talk out there after a Twitter spat. Vettori had been very critical of Felder’s commentary when calling a fight between his teammate, Nasrat Haqparast and Dan Hooker.

Vettori had initially written: “Had to mute the comment on the fights, can’t stand Felder lol worst to ever do it”, to which Felder had responded: “Am I using too many big words? I’m sorry Marvin.”

The pair continued to engage in a back-and-forth, with Vettori calling Felder a ‘puppet’

“They were like, ‘Guys, OK, before we start, I know there’s been back and forth, we’re going to handle this like adults – you guys feel free to vent both sides of your story,’” Felder said on The MMA Hour. “Marvin gave his reasons on why he felt slighted and whatever, and I gave my reasons on why I didn’t think I did anything that was really against him, and we kind of hashed it out. And ever since, we’ve been… I don’t think he’s going to be my best friend or likes me necessarily, but I feel like there’s no real bad blood there.”

“At this point, if Marvin wanted to kick my ass, let’s be honest, he probably could,” Felder continued. “He’s a top middleweight right now, and I’m a very skinny former fighter who commentates and does triathlons on the side.” (H/T MMAFighting).

Paul Felder talking to Ariel Helwani

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