If you needed any further evidence that UFC lightweight contender Paul Felder is a badass, here it is.
In the third round of his fight with the ever dangerous James Vick, Felder absorbed a body kick that caused his lung to collapse. Despite this serious injury, he continued to fight ferociously until the final bell, and ultimately wound up winning a unanimous decision for his efforts.
Ariel Helwani has the details:
“Paul Felder suffered a collapsed lung in the closing minutes of his fight against James Vick last night, his manager Brian Butler told ESPN,” Helwani reported on Twitter. “Doctors believe the lung was punctured when he took a shot to the ribs at the end of the third round.”
Felder was scheduled to work as an analyst at the UFC’s upcoming card in Prague, but unfortunately, this injury has nixed this plan.
“He is being held an extra day at a local Phoenix hospital for observation, Butler said,” Helwani reported. “As a result of the injury, Felder has been forced to pull out of his color analyst duties for this weekend’s UFC Prague telecast, Butler said.”
With his victory over James Vick, Paul Felder rebounded from a decision loss to Mike Perry, which occurred in the welterweight division. Prior to this loss to Perry, Felder produced three straight wins in the lightweight division, defeating Alessandro Ricci, Stevie Ray and Charles Oliveira, all by TKO or knockout.
Paul Felder is now 16-4 overall, and is likely to climb into the lightweight top-10 on the strength of his win over James Vick. Hopefully, he heals up quickly — perhaps in time for a fight with the winner of Justin Gaethje and Edson Barboza’s upcoming bout, which he called for after his win over Vick.
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 2/18/2019.