Paul Felder confirms he’s not retiring: ‘I can not wait to fight again’

After an incredibly close-contested fight against Dan Hooker, Paul Felder put his fighting future up in the air and admitted in his post-fight press conference that he would be considering retirement.

Felder seemed to start to get away from the idea of retirement in March, saying he feels he’s got a lot more left in him, and that means the stacked lightweight division will be keeping one of its most dangerous contenders. Following his fight against Hooker, Felder’s coach Duke Roufus revealed that he asked UFC President Dana White for a rematch between the two, but Hooker is currently scheduled to meet Dustin Poirier at some point when the UFC returns to action.

To further cement his fighting future, Felder recently did a guest interview with UFC play-by-play man Jon Anik, and said that after going through the COVID-19 pandemic, he’s absolutely ready to get back to fighting.

FEAR NOT FELDER FAITHFUL…

Find out what Paul Felder had to say about his fighting future on the #FNA live chat with @felderpaul & @Jon_Anik #AnikFlorianPodhttps://t.co/RrdAMG2Lwp pic.twitter.com/dgIvbo5vC5

— Anik Florian Podcast (@AnikFlorianPod) April 16, 2020

“I can tell you that after all this, with what we’re going through, I can not wait to fight again,” Felder said. “Dude, I’m on this bike, I had my manager Brian Butler send me all these photos from Auckland. I texted him last night I said ‘Man I’m feeling a little depressed, I’m missing my job, I’m missing commentary.’ I just miss that fire. You don’t realize how important that is in your life… especially somebody like myself, and anybody like myself who’s an athlete and been doing this for so long. Or somebody like you who’s been working, making this company become what it is, to just have that stripped away from this it’s like, f**k man.

“I can’t wait to get back to doing this but I’m also realistic and I’m not one of those people who’s like ‘we need to just open everything up.’ I don’t want a second wave [of COVID-19] I don’t want any of that stuff,” Felder added.

When the UFC returns to their schedule of putting on events, it’s evident that Paul Felder will be itching to get back into the Octagon sooner rather than later. With plenty of contenders in the lightweight division, it should be interesting to see who the UFC books his next fight against.

Who would you like to see Paul Felder face when he returns to action?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 4/17/2020.