Chael Sonnen suggests Conor McGregor should fight Paul Felder after making his return
Chael Sonnen seemingly believes that Paul Felder would be a good matchup for Conor McGregor when he makes his highly anticipated return to the octagon.
In an edition of Beyond the Fight, Sonnen addressed Conor McGregor’s injury hiatus. He asserted that the MMA megastar shouldn’t return against a current top-tier opponent right away, even if he’ll likely want to. ‘The American Gangster’ stated:
“He’s gonna jump in there with anybody. It looks like he’s pining for (Dustin) Poirier. To not do Conor (versus Nate) Diaz is a tragedy to me. But there is other matches that you could do where all of a sudden you can make up some ground with Conor. Man, I’ll throw a name at you: Paul Felder. Paul Felder is out. Paul Felder is retired. Paul Felder is not training. If Paul Felder came back for Conor McGregor, he would lock down into an eight-week training camp; the same as Conor’s going to do.”
“It’s going to be even-even, and they’re going to go out, and they’re going to have a match. Not to mention, the stand-up of Paul Felder versus the precision within the speed of the stand-up of Conor McGregor makes it a very compelling matchup. And it doesn’t really affect the rankings. Nothing’s got anything to do with anything. Neither one of them is headed anywhere anyway, right? In all fairness, neither one of them is going to go fight for belts or even wants to, so you can get those guys together. That makes a lot of sense; what I just said.”
Catch Chael Sonnen’s statements regarding Conor McGregor in the video below:
Conor McGregor and Paul Felder are no strangers to one another
Conor McGregor hails from Ireland, whereas Paul Felder is from the United States. Felder, known as 'The Irish Dragon,' identifies as an American whilst also proudly representing his Irish heritage.
On that note, Conor McGregor has time and again questioned Paul Felder’s Irish roots. McGregor has often claimed that the veteran fighter and UFC commentator is German. Felder happens to be a common last name in Germany.
Nevertheless, Paul Felder, on his part, has clarified that his parents have partial Irish ancestry and that he’s not German. Intriguingly, both fighters did wish each other well after Felder retired.
Danke schön 😂 cheers man! Best of luck in camp and congrats on the new little one. twitter.com/TheNotoriousMM…
Paul Felder announced his retirement from MMA in May of this year. Meanwhile, Conor McGregor suffered a horrific leg injury in July and has been recovering ever since. ‘Notorious’ is expected to return to professional MMA competition in 2022.
Considering their history with one another and in light of the other variables at play, a potential Conor McGregor vs. Paul Felder matchup would make sense. Regardless, McGregor’s next opponent hasn’t been confirmed as of yet.
Proper Power! @McGregorFast https://t.co/1cBAAv3Tp9