Will MMA fans see Paul Felder make the walk to the octagon one last time? Well, ‘The Irish Dragon’ is certainly considering it, especially after the respectful Jim Miller call out he received this weekend.
Miller beat Gabriel Benitez with a third round submission in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night: Ankalaev vs Walker 2. Having fought on UFC 100 and UFC 200, ‘A-10’ has made no secret of the fact he would love to feature on UFC 300, set for April the 13th.
In his post fight interview with Michael Bisping Miller expressed interest in facing Paul Felder, who was working the desk that night. Speaking to the media in attendance post show, Felder addressed the media to discuss the prospect of fighting on the landmark card. He said:
“Anybody that knows me or talked to me, you being one of those people, knew that Jim was the name that was like ‘If I'm going to do it, I want it to be against a guy like Jim.
“Somebody that's around my age that's been in the game for a long time. I'm not trying to come back and make a run for the belt or anything like that.
“And you know, I go back and forth, as any athlete does, between feeling inspired and in the gym one day and I train in Philly with a lot of very good, hungry up and coming guys. So, you can get a little bit frustrated going in the gym. So I'm in and out all the time between going to Marquez MMA and training with Sean and Joe Pyfer and all these guys.”
As it transpired, Felder was half expecting the call out following the fighter meetings earlier in the week.
“When we talked to Jim in the fighter meetings, obviously the people around me are kind of egging it on and pushing me. And I was like ‘If you call me out Jim, it's something that I'd be interested in doing.’ He's like ‘If you get me a job sitting next to you at the desk, we'll make it a deal.’
“And I think they'll be calling him for at least an audition coming up soon. So when he said that, you know, it's it's like, fuck, now he's setting me up all the things that I said, well, if he does this, if this happens, then I'd be interested in doing it. It's just, you know, I got to get back in the gym and see how things feel.”
Felder last competed in 2020 and what insane circumstances surrounded the event. After a brutal 5 round war with Dan Hooker in which Felder dropped a split decision, he announced post fight “that might be it.” It was unclear as to whether he would compete again but when Islam Makhachev pulled out of his contest with Rafael dos Anjos just 5 days out from the event, up stepped Paul Felder to save the day.
As if taking the fight on days notice wasn’t miraculous enough, Felder almost had the complete Cinderella story going the distance in a competitive five round main event. It was not meant to be for ‘The Irish Dragon’ dropping a split decision on scorecards.
If Felder was set to compete one more time, a bout against fellow MMA veteran Jim Miller at UFC 300 would seem like a fitting way to walk away from competition for good.
