In need of replacement of his own, Paul Felder steps in vs Mike Perry at UFC 226

It looks like things will end up working out for “The Irish Dragon” Paul Felder who was looking like he would be missing out on his second fight in a row.

At UFC 223, Felder was planned to take on Al Iaquinta to kick off the evening’s main card. However, after UFC featherweight champion, Max Holloway was pulled from the night’s main event with Khabib Nurmagomedov due to not being able to make weight, a replacement was needed.

Felder would campaign to fill in but the New York State Athletic Commission wouldn’t allow it as Felder wasn’t ranked high enough in the UFC’s rankings. Yep. That’s the real reason.

Instead, Felder’s would-be opponent, Iaquinta got the call up to take on Nurmagomedov instead.

A fight wouldn’t be booked for Felder until UFC Boise which takes place on July 14th where he was supposed to face off with rising lightweight contender, James Vick. That was until last night when Iaquinta pulled out of his UFC Lincoln main event with Justin Gaethje…

This resulted in Vick stepping in for Iaquinta leaving Felder oppontless once more.

But there is good news for Felder and bad news for Yancy Medeiros who was announced as injured out of his UFC 226 bout with Mike Perry today.

MMAJunkie now can confirm that Medeiros will be replaced by Felder for UFC 226.

This will be the Felder’s first bout at welterweight as he has fought all of his 18 fight career at 155 pounds.

With the shakeup, this is how UFC 226 is set to look:

Heavyweight – 207-265lbs: (C)Stipe Miocic vs. (LHW C)Daniel Cormier
Featherweight – 145lbs: (C)Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega
Heavyweight: Derrick Lewis vs. Francis Ngannou
Lightweight – 155lbs: Michael Chiesa vs. Anthony Pettis
Light heavyweight – 205lbs: Khalil Rountree vs. Gokhan Saki

Middleweight – 185lbs: Paulo Costa vs. Uriah Hall
Welterweight – 170lbs: Mike Perry vs. Paul Felder
Bantamweight – 135lbs: Raphael Assuncao vs. Rob Font
Welterweight: Max Griffin vs. Curtis Millender

Lightweight: Gilbert Burns vs. Dan Hooker
Strawweight – 115lbs: Jamie Moyle vs. Emily Whitmire
Lightweight: Drakkar Klose vs. Lando Vannata

on 6/28/2018