Five days ago, Paul Felder was offered the chance to fight Rafael dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night. Here's why he accepted
Paul Felder was sprinting on the treadmill five days ago when his phone lit up.
The call disrupted his four-and-a-half-mile run, but there was a lucrative offer behind the interruption. A staph infection had prevented Islam Makhachev from competing in the UFC Fight Night card, leaving Rafael dos Anjos without an opponent in tonight’s main event.
Felder was already scheduled to be cageside in Vegas as part of the commentary team, but now was presented the opportunity to step into the Octagon on five days’ notice to take on the former Lightweight Champion.
“The first step was to check my weight, and it was where it needed to be,” said Felder, who made weight for the fight. “But I needed to really think about it, and that’s when I got in the shower.”
Drenched in hot water, Felder’s mind wandered.
“I didn’t even clean myself for the first 10 minutes I was in there, I just stood there with the water coming down,” said Felder. “I started thinking about Alex Trebrek, how he passed away from pancreatic cancer. That made me think about my dad, who I lost in 2017 to that same cancer. Then I thought about this opportunity, and how they don’t come around very often.
“That’s where I realized I needed to do this, that I needed to be brave and take a risk. I stepped out of the shower, got on the phone, and decided I was going to fight a former champion on five days’ notice.”
Currently ranked seventh in the UFC Lightweight division, Felder looks to elevate his standing with a win, which will be no easy task against dos Anjos. And despite discussion earlier this week regarding the possibility of retirement, the sudden build to this fight has reminded the 36-year-old how much he relishes competing.
“It would be epic to fight and then drop my gloves, but I don’t see it happening,” said Felger. “Now that I’m here in this moment, I realize how much I missed this s---. I know I’m not the best fighter in the division, but I’m f------ crazy and I like to fight. And this fight is going to be good.”
Felder has never backed away from a fight, and he did not plan on doing that for the first time this week.
“I’ve been fighting since I was a little kid,” said Felder, a product of South Philadelphia’s Grays Ferry neighborhood. “We played tackle football on concrete. If you argued with us, we’d punch you in the face. In high school, our soccer team at St. John Neumann was the worst soccer team in the Catholic League, and we fought more than we won games.
“I’d always take on the biggest guy, the ones no one else wanted. If you talked s--- to me, I’d knuckle up and throw down. Stepping up and having a fistfight, that’s never been a problem.”
Felder enters tonight’s fight as a slight underdog. He has split his last four bouts, including a split decision loss last fought in February to Dan Hooker. A victory against dos Anjos instantly places a spotlight onto Felder, setting up another big money fight in his next bout.
“I’m going to put on a show,” said Felder. “It will be cooler to say I won and then go into the top five, but I won’t give a s--- about that when I’m 70,” said Felder. “I’ll remember the crazy adventures. And this is something I can tell to my grandkids, something that will make my daughter proud.”
The stars have appeared to have perfectly aligned themselves for Felder, though that narrative changes instantly with a loss. Yet, for Felder, this opportunity is too rich and meaningful to let it slip away.
“It’s a fistfight and anything can happen,” said Felder. “That is no different for an eight-week camp or a five-day camp. I could prepare for nine weeks and still get finished, or I could go out there after five days and kick him in the f------ head.
“I’ve been fighting my whole life. I like my chances. Once this starts, once we’re in the Octagon, I have 25 minutes to find a way to take him out.”
Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.