During Saturday’s UFC Fight Night broadcast, Paul Felder announced his retirement from mixed martial arts and will continue his role as a broadcaster for the promotion.
“I’m retiring officially from the sport of mixed martial arts and from the UFC.”@felderpaul has called it a career 👏 #UFCVegas27 pic.twitter.com/QGoTXPsBKQ
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 23, 2021
Felder, 37, last competed in November of last year taking a short-notice fight against former 155-pound champion Rafael dos Anjos.
His career started in 2011 primarily fighting for the CFFC organization where he went 8-0 before signing with the UFC when he held the CFFC lightweight championship.
Felder quickly earned a reputation as an action fighter that yielded three ‘Fight of the Night’ and another three ‘Performance of the Night’ bonuses over the course of his UFC tenure.
Felder’s biggest win occurred in December 2017 when he stopped Charles Oliveira with a second-round TKO and extended his win streak to three. In Felder’s next fight, he moved up to welterweight and suffered a split decision loss to Mike Perry. Felder immediately returned to lightweight and got two big wins against James Vick and Edson Barboza in 2019.
In February 2020, he dropped a razor-close split decision to Dan Hooker that the majority of MMA media members scored for Felder.
Felder never got to fight for the lightweight championship but was absolutely in the mix among the top lightweights in the world. He retires with a record of 17-6.
