Paul Felder Promises to Get 'Rowdy' at UFC Fight Night 95
Paul Felder Promises to Get 'Rowdy' at UFC Fight Night 95
UFC lightweight Paul Felder will be looking to take another big step at UFC Fight Night 95 in Brazil.
Exciting UFC lightweight Paul Felder came into the organization with an unblemished record and a solid amount of buzz and fanfare due in large part to his exciting striking and fight finishing style.
He quickly showed and proved, picking up two respectable wins with the organization, including a highlight reel spinning back fist stoppage of Danny Castillo at UFC 182. After a clear step up in competition he suffered back-to-back losses at the hands of Edson Barboza and Ross Pearson respectively.
Felder’s back was up against the wall when he faced Daron Cruickshank at UFC Fight Night 81 in Boston in January. After a very exciting back and forth battle, he pulled off a submission of the night worthy rear naked choke in the final minute of the third round to secure the much needed victory. The emotion Felder showed in cage after the win was palpable, with few people actually knowing all of the obstacles that were in his path leading up to the fight.
“That was the first time I ever had to deal with two losses," Felder said. “That alone was mentally tough to get through and regroup from. Two weeks before the fight my father got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. That was a big bomb the family got hit with right after Christmas. Thinking about my dad, thinking about my back-to-back losses and then thinking about my daughter who was a year old…there was just so much going on.
"I just wanted to take that win in. It’s not every day we get to do this. Not everybody gets the chance of a lifetime to fight for the UFC. That’s why I got so emotional after the win. There was a lot going on.”
May 29, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Paul Felder (blue gloves) kicks Joshua Burkina (red gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Mandalay Bay Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports
For the first time in his professional career, Felder is fighting outside of North America when he steps onto enemy soil in Brasilia, Brazil tonight to face off with streaking top 15 UFC lightweight Francisco Trinaldo at UFC Fight Night 95.
The American is throwing down with his Brazilian opponent, who holds a clear home field advantage when the Octagon door closes behind the two men tonight. Felder is paying no mind to the rabid Brazilian fan base, as he is envisioning a continuation of the momentum that he picked up during his recent two fight winning streak.
“When you spent nine weeks getting ready for an opponent you see the fight doing so many different ways. The good, the bad, the ugly, the perfect. An ideal situation would be going in there and stopping him early. Sometimes that just not in the cards. I could see a fight with him getting pretty rowdy and getting bloody and ugly. As long as my hand is raised at the end of it I don’t care how it goes down.”
Felder puts the artist in mixed martial artist. He attended The University of the Arts in Philadelphia for acting and has worked in theater groups in and around Philadelphia for many years. The classically trained actor is not shy in voicing the fact that he wants to audition for larger roles in the UFC’s star studded lightweight division after a big win over Trinaldo tonight.
“I want to keep climbing that ladder and start facing guys with numbers next to their names. I want to start facing top 15, maybe even top 10 guys.”
Jan 17, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Paul Felder (red) celebrates his win over Daron Cruickshank (not seen) during a lightweight bout at UFC Fight Night at the TD Garden. Felder won in three rounds by submission. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
In the weeks leading up to the fight Felder raised some eyebrows when he created a GoFundMe page to financially assist his corner men with all the expenses a trip to Brazil would incur. The UFC pays for two flights, generally the fighter plus one, meaning the fighter and one corner man. Any additional expense falls at the feet of the fighter.
Many people in the community were supportive of the drive and contributed to the fund. There was a smaller, yet more vocal faction that showed their displeasure with the idea of a professional fighter asking fans for money. When it was all said and done Felder decided to pull the plug on the campaign.
“My God, man. I will never do something like that again unless I’m in the hospital with some life threatening disease I can’t afford to cover. I will never ask anybody on social media again I had a lot of people show support and be very generous. People were really helping out. More than that, my family and friends were able to help out. The amount of negative backlash I got from that, it just wasn’t worth it in the end.
"These keyboard warriors blow my mind with how tough they think they are when they have a computer in front of them. There was more positive response but the negative was just so stupid and nasty that it wasn’t worth keeping the page up. People were attacking me as if I had abused their child. They just go too crazy.”
He quickly showed and proved, picking up two respectable wins with the organization, including a highlight reel spinning back fist stoppage of Danny Castillo at UFC 182. After a clear step up in competition he suffered back-to-back losses at the hands of Edson Barboza and Ross Pearson respectively.
Felder’s back was up against the wall when he faced Daron Cruickshank at UFC Fight Night 81 in Boston in January. After a very exciting back and forth battle, he pulled off a submission of the night worthy rear naked choke in the final minute of the third round to secure the much needed victory. The emotion Felder showed in cage after the win was palpable, with few people actually knowing all of the obstacles that were in his path leading up to the fight.
“That was the first time I ever had to deal with two losses," Felder said. “That alone was mentally tough to get through and regroup from. Two weeks before the fight my father got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. That was a big bomb the family got hit with right after Christmas. Thinking about my dad, thinking about my back-to-back losses and then thinking about my daughter who was a year old…there was just so much going on.
"I just wanted to take that win in. It’s not every day we get to do this. Not everybody gets the chance of a lifetime to fight for the UFC. That’s why I got so emotional after the win. There was a lot going on.”
May 29, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Paul Felder (blue gloves) kicks Joshua Burkina (red gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Mandalay Bay Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports
For the first time in his professional career, Felder is fighting outside of North America when he steps onto enemy soil in Brasilia, Brazil tonight to face off with streaking top 15 UFC lightweight Francisco Trinaldo at UFC Fight Night 95.
The American is throwing down with his Brazilian opponent, who holds a clear home field advantage when the Octagon door closes behind the two men tonight. Felder is paying no mind to the rabid Brazilian fan base, as he is envisioning a continuation of the momentum that he picked up during his recent two fight winning streak.
“When you spent nine weeks getting ready for an opponent you see the fight doing so many different ways. The good, the bad, the ugly, the perfect. An ideal situation would be going in there and stopping him early. Sometimes that just not in the cards. I could see a fight with him getting pretty rowdy and getting bloody and ugly. As long as my hand is raised at the end of it I don’t care how it goes down.”
Felder puts the artist in mixed martial artist. He attended The University of the Arts in Philadelphia for acting and has worked in theater groups in and around Philadelphia for many years. The classically trained actor is not shy in voicing the fact that he wants to audition for larger roles in the UFC’s star studded lightweight division after a big win over Trinaldo tonight.
“I want to keep climbing that ladder and start facing guys with numbers next to their names. I want to start facing top 15, maybe even top 10 guys.”
Jan 17, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Paul Felder (red) celebrates his win over Daron Cruickshank (not seen) during a lightweight bout at UFC Fight Night at the TD Garden. Felder won in three rounds by submission. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
In the weeks leading up to the fight Felder raised some eyebrows when he created a GoFundMe page to financially assist his corner men with all the expenses a trip to Brazil would incur. The UFC pays for two flights, generally the fighter plus one, meaning the fighter and one corner man. Any additional expense falls at the feet of the fighter.
Many people in the community were supportive of the drive and contributed to the fund. There was a smaller, yet more vocal faction that showed their displeasure with the idea of a professional fighter asking fans for money. When it was all said and done Felder decided to pull the plug on the campaign.
“My God, man. I will never do something like that again unless I’m in the hospital with some life threatening disease I can’t afford to cover. I will never ask anybody on social media again I had a lot of people show support and be very generous. People were really helping out. More than that, my family and friends were able to help out. The amount of negative backlash I got from that, it just wasn’t worth it in the end.
"These keyboard warriors blow my mind with how tough they think they are when they have a computer in front of them. There was more positive response but the negative was just so stupid and nasty that it wasn’t worth keeping the page up. People were attacking me as if I had abused their child. They just go too crazy.”