HALIFAX, NS - OCTOBER 4: Paul Felder celebrates after defeating Jason Saggo of Canada in their lightweight bout at the Scotiabank Centre on October 4, 2014 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. (Photo by Nick Laham/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Paul Felder open to Edson Barboza trilogy, under one condition
At UFC 242, Paul Felder evened the score with Edson Barboza as he won by split-decision. It was a rematch of their fight from 2015.
Although ‘The Irish Dragon’ got his hand raised against Barboza, some believe the Brazilian won the fight. Edson Barboza even plans on appealing the loss, which Paul Felder doesn’t agree with. Instead, he believes the judges made the right call, and explained why in an Instagram post.
On the post as well, he says he is open to a trilogy bout with Barboza as long as it is five rounds.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2RoVvSB-CZ/
“As for my fight and what seems to have turned into a controversial decision amongst fans.. It was a war. A close fight between two skilled people that wanted to finish each other,” Felder wrote on Instagram. “I have nothing but respect for Edson. We both go out and put on fights to entertain the fans. With that said, I will say this, I walked him down the entire fight, I threw at him the entire fight, I never stalled the entire fight, if he landed, I landed — the entire fight.
“When he took me down, he took the damage — the entire fight. I never gassed or slowed my pace the entire fight. I got cut due to a head butt, Edson got cut due to strikes. Both of us put our bodies through so much during that fight that whoever came out with the loss would understandably be upset but the numbers don’t lie.”
With the win, Paul Felder is now ranked seventh in the division and on a two-fight winning streak. He is now in line for a top-five opponent, but wouldn’t be opposed to fighting Edson Barboza again as long as it is the main event. It could make sense given how entertaining both fights were and how both fighters kept moving forward.
