A defeated Felder hinted at retirement after the loss, but the fighter says he has a lot more left in the tank and won’t be retiring after all.
“That moment almost seemed right, but nah, I think I’ve got a lot more left in me physically,” Felder said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show (via Cole Shelton of BJPenn.com). “I’m already recovering from one of the hardest battles of my life, and s**t, it’s addictive, man. That five rounds, that main event, I liked it. I liked being on the poster. I’m a pretty dramatic guy. I kind of always think about that moment [of retiring in the cage]. Just as I always think about what having the belt put around my waist would be like and taking that back to Philly,” he continued. “Or fighting at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Or bringing the belt to the Eagles’ stadium, The Linc, and hanging out with the team. I fantasize about all of these things, and retirement is just another one of them. And it’s not in any bad way.”
There is no word on when Felder is returning to action, but he’ll be back in the commentary booth for some upcoming UFC events in the near future.
Felder knows that he’ll be fighting again, but don’t expect to see the fighter competing against anyone other than top level competition.
“If something were to happen to any of these guys in the top five and they can’t match up the way the UFC wants them to match up,” Felder said. “There’s been some talk of Al Iaquinta wanting to fight me, and if you give me a five-rounder with him on a big Fight Night, or a rematch with Hooker, which is never going to happen, but obviously that’s something I would take to get that one back. I’m not coming back for the last fight on the prelims, or even the second fight on a pay-per-view. And it’s nothing against them. It’s not saying that I deserve all of these extra things. It’s just, to go through what I go through and put myself through in training, and then you see how I pushed myself in the fight, you can’t deny that anymore.”
The fighter could get that high level opponent that he wishes to face, as everybody ranked ahead of Felder, with the exception of Tony Ferguson, isn’t booked for a fight at the moment.
