‘It Took Me a While to Read Felder” RDA Opens Up on UFC Fight Night Victory

At the main event of UFC Fight Night, Rafael dos Anjos put a clinical performance against the Irish Dragon, Paul Felder. The former UFC Lightweight Champion won the fight via split decision. He displayed his wrestling abilities coupled with powerful striking to dominate Felder and got the much needed victory.

Felder didn’t make it look easy for ‘RDA’ as he kept up with his striking & counter attacks to make the fight captivating till the very end.

‘RDA’ was set to fight Islam Makhachev in the main event, but the Russian injured himself and was out of the contest. Interacting with MMA Junkie post fight, Rafael said, ”I had to do everything I did not train for.”

“I got to step with 5 days’ notice. Saying that he (Felder) got nothing to lose. It’s very hard to fight against guys like that.” he added.

‘RDA’ had a long camp to train for Islam Makhachev, who is a southpaw with fantastic ground & pound abilities. Just 5 days before the fight he had to bring in major shift to his camp to train for an ‘orthodox’ striker Paul Felder. He admitted that it took a while for him to read Felder.

‘RDA’ dominated Felder with 6 takedowns, 50 head strikes & 14 minutes of ground control.

Who’s next for RDA?

Post his win, the UFC veteran called out the former Double Champ Conor McGregor for a five-round battle in the Lightweight division.

He said, “If Khabib is really retired it will leave the division wide open and if you look to the contenders, I think that only me and Conor we are the only real champions on that division. Everybody else is interim champions so I think if the division is open, me and Conor is the fight to make.”

The Notorious one acknowledged and replied to the Brazilian in his own quirky way.

RDA vs McGregor was initially booked in 2015 at UFC 196, when the Brazilian was the Lightweight champion. The fight was called off as RDA injured himself. McGregor then faced Nate Diaz in the same event where he got submitted by the American. Furthermore, RDA lost his Lightweight belt to Eddie Alvarez via TKO.

RDA would look to capitalize on his comeback to the Lightweight division and look for exciting matchups. Sooner or later, a fight with McGregor could be on the cards.

How do you rate RDA’s performance against Paul Felder? Is McGregor an ideal opponent for him now? Let us know in the comments below.