The Film Room: Paul Felder
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Paul Felder returns to the Octagon for the first time since last summer to take on James Vick in the co-main event of UFC on ESPN 1. Felder joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2014 and has since amassed an impressive 7-4 record with five finishes.
Felder started training in taekwondo and karate at the age of 12 but he didn’t start his professional martial arts career until he was 26. Although his background is in TKD, “The Irish Dragon” takes on more of a muay Thai style with a high guard, tight stance and a focus on landing knees and elbows. His best work comes on the counter, where he takes on a pressure-countering approach. Instead of the classic “make you miss, make you pay” style of countering, Felder likes to pressure forward with footwork, feints and simple combos to bait the opponent to come in where he can slip and counter.
Felder probably throws more knees than anybody in the UFC and a quick lead switch knee to the body is often his go-to counter. This is reminiscent of Donald Cerrone, who he trained with for many years.
He also likes to use these knees to the body on the lead and in the clinch. Notice how he often uses the knee to the body to initiate the clinch, instead of the other way around like most do.
Felder’s leading attacks are usually simple one-twos, right hooks and the occasional kick. They’re almost always thrown as single strikes with no setups, but he’s doing this on purpose to set up his counters. We know from hearing “The Irish Dragon” in the commentary booth that he’s a very intelligent fighter and big on pre-fight analysis, which is the only way you will have success pressure countering. Based on his counters you can tell he did his homework and learned his opponent’s reactions to certain combos. Against Josh Burkman, he knew “The People’s Warrior” liked to counter the jab with a big overhand left or right. So, Felder would feint the jab, wait for the overhand, and counter with his own right hand over the top.
We haven’t seen much of Felder’s ground game, but he does have one submission victory on his record against Daron Cruickshank and is a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Daniel Gracie. He’s shown good ground-and-pound when the opportunity arises but at the end of the day he is a striker and wants to keep the fight on the feet.
Paul Felder returns to the Octagon for the first time since last summer to take on James Vick in the co-main event of UFC on ESPN 1. Felder joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2014 and has since amassed an impressive 7-4 record with five finishes.
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Felder started training in taekwondo and karate at the age of 12 but he didn’t start his professional martial arts career until he was 26. Although his background is in TKD, “The Irish Dragon” takes on more of a muay Thai style with a high guard, tight stance and a focus on landing knees and elbows. His best work comes on the counter, where he takes on a pressure-countering approach. Instead of the classic “make you miss, make you pay” style of countering, Felder likes to pressure forward with footwork, feints and simple combos to bait the opponent to come in where he can slip and counter.
Being a proficient pressure counter fighter is rare in any sport
because it requires a lot of preparation. When pressure countering,
you want to fluster the opponent into coming forward by throwing
simple combos over and over again and hope they catch on and try to
counter. This is difficult because you must know what the
opponent’s go-to attack is to whatever simple combo you’re throwing
so you can respond to their counter. Confusing I know, but many of
the best fighters in the world employ this countering tactic, and
none better than Roberto Duran.
Felder probably throws more knees than anybody in the UFC and a quick lead switch knee to the body is often his go-to counter. This is reminiscent of Donald Cerrone, who he trained with for many years.
He also likes to use these knees to the body on the lead and in the clinch. Notice how he often uses the knee to the body to initiate the clinch, instead of the other way around like most do.
Felder’s leading attacks are usually simple one-twos, right hooks and the occasional kick. They’re almost always thrown as single strikes with no setups, but he’s doing this on purpose to set up his counters. We know from hearing “The Irish Dragon” in the commentary booth that he’s a very intelligent fighter and big on pre-fight analysis, which is the only way you will have success pressure countering. Based on his counters you can tell he did his homework and learned his opponent’s reactions to certain combos. Against Josh Burkman, he knew “The People’s Warrior” liked to counter the jab with a big overhand left or right. So, Felder would feint the jab, wait for the overhand, and counter with his own right hand over the top.
We haven’t seen much of Felder’s ground game, but he does have one submission victory on his record against Daron Cruickshank and is a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Daniel Gracie. He’s shown good ground-and-pound when the opportunity arises but at the end of the day he is a striker and wants to keep the fight on the feet.
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