Paul Felder has aligned himself with Duke Roufus and he has no regrets.
This past Sunday night (Feb. 19), “The Irish Dragon” returned to the Octagon to battle Alessandro Ricci inside the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Felder rebounded from a TKO loss to Francisco Trinaldo back in Sept. 2016. He put Ricci away in the first round with an elbow followed by punches.
With the victory, Felder has now won three of his last four bouts. Many were surprised to learn that “The Irish Dragon” was now training with Duke Roufus at Roufusport in Milwaukee.
On Luke Thomas’ SiriusXM radio show, Felder explained why he made the move:
“I switched management. My good friend Rob Haydak used to manage me and he’s now with the Alliance MMA and he’s running that show. So, he brought me over to SuckerPunch (Entertainment) and Brian Butler really just took a good look at my career and he said, ‘I think there’s one thing missing.’ He said, ‘I think you need to be somewhere where you can have everybody focused on you and have a camp surround you.’ He really just wanted me to go talk to Duke and see what it was all about. I was very reluctant because I love Nick, I love Ricardo and all those guys, they all took me in … Once I got to Milwaukee, I never came back. I loved it so much once I got there.”
