Issue 126

March 2015

Sparring with ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone gave Paul Felder the belief he’s where he belongs. Much to the detriment of KO victim Danny Castillo 

Paul Felder may only be two fights into his UFC career, but his spinning back-fist knockout of 155lb division gatekeeper Danny Castillo at UFC 182, confirmed his arrival in the big show to the masses.

The 29-year-old Philadelphian only landed the fight at the MGM Grand after he text Joe Silva when he heard Castillo’s original opponent, Rustam Khabilov, was forced to withdraw. He stepped in on just a few weeks’ notice. 

But Felder, who sparred with Donald Cerrone ahead of his own fight on the card against Myles Jury, got the job done in sensational style. The scintillating stoppage came two minutes into round two to extend his unbeaten MMA record to 9-0 and earn him a $50,000 performance bonus. 

“The finish just kind of fell into my lap,” Felder says. “He kept kicking me on my left side and it kept rocking me off balance so I just thought, ‘Hell with it,’ and spun through and he just walked right into it. It was well timed but it was his momentum that knocked him out basically.

“I wanted to stand with him. I wanted him to kickbox and box. He thinks he’s been working on his boxing a whole lot, but I was game for that. I mean, I’m from Philly, we’re boxing all the time too. So I’d been working on my own head movement for this fight.

“I actually wanted him to walk onto my knee, which is why I kept throwing shots up high, inviting him, basically, ‘Shoot whenever you want and I’m gonna knee you in the face.’” 

Sparring with Cerrone gave Felder a confidence boost and, much like fan- favorite ‘Cowboy’, he insists he’s ready to fight any time he gets the chance in 2015.

“I get worse in the gym than what I will ever get in the Octagon sparring with Cowboy,” he confesses. “He’s the best lightweight in the world and it’s a shame he never got to prove that against Myles Jury, as he refused to fight. But Cowboy is the best out there. 

“When you work with a guy of that caliber, who wants me to be in his camp, who takes the time to bring me out there and be his training partner, the confidence levels just climb. At the weigh-ins he turned to me and was like, ‘You know you belong here, right?’ He just makes you think, ‘Well if this guy believes I belong here then maybe I do.’ And so I just went out there and had fun. I felt really relaxed and was just enjoying fighting. On my UFC debut I was a little jittery, but not against Castillo.

“I feel incredible now. I feel like I belong. I’ve gotten two fights out of the way and I just want to keep going. I want to climb up the rankings. I’m not here to be like, ‘Man, I made it to the UFC.’ I want get into the top 10. That’s my goal now. To get into the top 10 and maybe even fight a guy ranked higher than Danny was. I’ll fight when and wherever Dana White and Joe Silva need me to.”