Historically, MMA retirements haven’t lasted too long, and it appears [autotag]Paul Felder[/autotag] just might be the next.
It’s been only five months since Felder officially announced his retirement, but after staying in shape and competing in a triathlon, fighting is still not a distant memory for the “Irish Dragon.”
Not only that, but Felder (17-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) has been commentating UFC events, as well as Dana White’s Contender Series, so he’s been around the game enough to give him that itch to come back.
Speaking to his broadcast partner, Brendan Fitzgerald, Felder didn’t say he’s officially coming out of retirement, but he also didn’t rule out the possibility.
“I feel like since the triathlon season has slowed, and there’s not a lot of races, I’ve really had a chance to reflect on that it’s over, that I’m not fighting anymore, and I’ve missed it tremendously,” Felder said. “I started hitting pads, I started doing stuff. Now, that’s not to say that I’m making some comeback, but I’m definitely gonna go home, I want to train with Sean Brady and the guys a little bit, and I wanna see how I feel after a week of training with somebody like Sean Brady, Jeremiah Wells, Pat Sabatini, Andre Petroski, these Philly guys in the UFC, and we’ll go from there.”
Felder recently spent some time training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, and the 37-year-old certainly looks in shape.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CUL2gMXp6HE/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Felder hasn’t competed since stepping in on just five days’ notice to take on former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC Fight Night 182 last November. He lost the bout by split decision but earned the “Fight of the Night” bonus.
Check out Felder’s full discussion with Fitzgerald in the video below:
[vertical-gallery id=439909]