"I really don't think I've got it anymore"- Paul Felder reveals that he has been contemplating the idea of retirement for months
Paul Felder has claimed that he has contemplated the idea of retiring from Mixed Martial Arts competition for the last few months. However, the people around him have mostly tried to force 'The Irish Dragon' from not walking away from the sport.
During his recent interview with Ariel Helwani of ESPN MMA, Paul Felder said that his cries for help for wanting to retire were somewhat brushed under the rug by his friends.
However, Felder finally got serious with the decision and put his foot down on the fact that he's done fighting in the world of MMA:
"I guess, I'd say the last few months I've probably been pretty sure and I've been saying it out loud to everybody and everybody just keeps going, 'No, no, you'll do another one. You'll be alright, you'll get motivated.' And I've been trying to tell people it's like when you have a problem but all your friends are just brushing it under the rug, you know. My cries of help of wanting to retire, I've been saying for a really long time and I think I finally put my foot down and got pretty serious with everybody and I was like listen, I really don't think I've got it anymore."
Paul Felder further said that the people around him mostly kept asking if he would fight certain guys from the UFC's lightweight division, including Conor McGregor.
At one point, 'The Irish Dragon' even said to himself that maybe this was a case of him not getting the big fights. But eventually, Paul Felder decided that he didn't want to put himself through the experiences that he has already had over the course of the last few years:
"I don't want to fight because they kept saying, 'What about this person? What if Conor wants to fight you? What if this?' I was like, man, it's not the who anymore because at first, that's what I thought it was. I thought maybe I'm not getting the big fights, I'm not getting the fights that I want but I just don't want to put myself through what you have to put yourself through anymore."
Paul Felder announced his retirement at the recent UFC Vegas 27 broadcast
During the broadcast of UFC Vegas 27, Paul Felder announced his retirement on live television and claimed that he was done fighting in the world of combat sports. Felder even added that he didn't want to hold a spot in the division and was getting tired of people criticizing him for not taking fights.
In his last two octagon outings, 'The Irish Dragon' lost to Rafael dos Anjos and went through a war with Dan Hooker in New Zealand. While many people thought that Felder had won the fight against 'The Hangman', the judges eventually decided to award Hooker the victory on his home soil.