Following his narrow loss to Dan Hooker, Paul Felder was considering retirement. His head coach Duke Roufus disagrees and thinks that we’ll see “The Irish Dragon” back in the Octagon.
What’s more, Roufus thinks Felder and Hooker should have a rematch and even had an interesting suggestion for Dana White for the potential bout.
Roufus talked about the fight and emotion behind the loss for Felder on The Luke Thomas Show on Sirius XM.
“Even in the loss, he took it with dignity, respect, a true martial artist, a man of character,’ Roufus talked of Felder. “I’m very proud to be not only just Paul’s friend, his countrymen, his teammate, his coach with him — he took that thing like a champ and I love his attitude. I’d rather lose with Paul than win with some fighters. He’s gracious in victory, gracious in defeat, and I was very proud of him. I think it was a legendary fight.”
Roufus talked about the fact that this was a 5-round main event fight and the level of comfort Felder feels in a longer fight and then admitted that he texted UFC President Dana White and asked for a rematch between Felder and Hooker to take place in Dublin, Ireland in August, 2020.
“Five rounds is his jam,” Roufus said. “He actually made weight the easiest he’s ever made in his career. The fight game, it’s a love affair and like any other love affair, it breaks your heart sometimes. That one was a heartbreaker but what does not kill us makes us stronger, and we’ll be stronger.
“I did text Dana White after the fight and I haven’t heard an answer back, but I asked him I said ‘let’s run this back how about Dublin, August 15,’” Roufus added, suggesting a Felder vs. Hooker rematch. “That’d be a hell of a main event in Dublin on fight night out there. I think this one deserves a rematch.”
Dan Hooker has already called for a fight against either Justin Gaethje or Dustin Poirier next, but the possibility of a rematch just adds another potential fight for him.
Discussion about this post