Paul Felder respects Dan Hooker for calling him out to his face: 'He took it by the horns'
The UFC doesn’t do things the same way as most other sports leagues. But then again, a lot of the UFC’s success comes because it doesn’t do things the same way as other sports leagues. It is the direct vision of its leader, UFC president Dana White, and it is unequivocally, unapologetically, itself.
One of the ways the UFC differs is in the way it creates its broadcast crews. It uses active fighters not only to work on the studio shows, but to do analysis from cageside and then to go into the Octagon after the fights to interview the winners.
Mostly, it’s never an issue. I mean, what flyweight is going to object to much of anything that Daniel Cormier, the UFC’s former heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, may have said about him?
But the UFC’s different way of doing things means that sometimes, an active fighter will wind up interviewing a fighter in his division.
Such was the case on April 21, 2018, when lightweight Paul Felder walked into the cage to interview Dan Hooker after Hooker had stopped Jim Miller.
In February 2018, Dan Hooker called for a fight with Paul Felder, while being interviewed by Paul Felder.
This weekend, they finally throw down at #UFCAukland 👊pic.twitter.com/VwiZc0d7jP— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) February 19, 2020
“I want a ranked opponent next,” Hooker said to Felder, as Felder listened with his right hand on Hooker’s shoulder. “I just so happen to be standing across from a ranked opponent without a fight. So, if you’d do me the honor next, we could get [UFC matchmaker] Sean [Shelby] to match it up.”
Felder beamed as he listened to Miller speak, and his reaction wasn’t predictable.
He wondered what had taken one of his peers so long.
“I’ve been waiting for somebody to have some guts and stand here in front of me and say they wanted to fight me,” Felder said. “So if Sean Shelby talks to me tonight and tells me he wants me to fight you, you’re a tough opponent and you deserve somebody higher ranked.”
The fight did not happen immediately. Unbeknownst to Hooker, the UFC had already offered Felder a bout against James Vick, but it wasn’t finalized and he was asked to keep it quiet until it was.
But from that moment, Felder knew that he was destined to meet Hooker. The time has arrived on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN+) at Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, in what figures to be one of the best, but most underappreciated, fights on the schedule so far.
Felder is now ranked sixth, one spot above Hooker, and the bout carries a lot of significance. Of the five men ranked above them and below champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, two won’t be fighting for the title any time soon (No. 2 Dustin Poirier and No. 5 Donald Cerrone). No. 1 Tony Ferguson is going to face Nurmagomedov in April, and No. 3 Conor McGregor is expected to get the winner.
That leaves only No. 4 Justin Gaethje among the top five without a path to the title.
So the winner of Felder-Hooker almost instantly will be in a great position in terms of getting another significant fight and moving into a spot to fight for the belt.
“I had a feeling that was going to happen,” Felder said. “I’m a ranked lightweight calling this guy’s fight. It only makes sense for him to take that opportunity. Kudos to him for having the guts to do it. I’ve interviewed a lot of lightweights in the cage who missed that opportunity. You can call me out right there.
“Whether you’re going to get it or not, I don’t know. That’s not up to me. He took it by the horns. He took the bull by the horns and went with it.”
The bout will be the first time that Felder has been in the main event. Doing it in Hooker’s hometown, where newly crowned UFC champions Alex Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya are his teammates, is also motivating.
A sell-out is expected and the atmosphere is expected to be intense, so Felder is highly motivated.
“To be here and be in the main event after Israel just did what he did and how he’s looked upon and Volkanovski, all these guys from this area, they’ve been killing it,” Felder said. “I get the opportunity to be a part of that and come in and ride that tidal wave of momentum from these guys. That’s my plan. … Obviously, I’ll be playing spoiler, but it’s almost sweeter.”
Indeed. Just not as sweet as calling out the guy interviewing you.
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