It was a fight that was not even supposed to happen just about 10 days ago, but injuries happen, and Paul Felder had that cojones to step up a weight class and take on the always-entertaining Mike Perry in a pay-per-view (PPV) main card bout tonight (Sat, July 7, 2018) of UFC 226, which took place inside T-Moblie Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
And then he apparently broke his arm in the middle of the match, opening the door for Perry to coast to a hard-fought, blood-soaked split decision.
It didn’t take long for either fighter to draw blood, with Perry opening a cut on the top of Felder’s head in the opening exchange and then “Platinum” getting split open seemingly with an inadvertent head butt. The action didn’t stop there, though, as both fighters found homes for seriously, seriously hard elbows to the forehead and face. Perry mixed in some low kicks, while Felder opted for some spinning shit that missed more often than not. It was an exciting opening frame to say the least.
Both fighters were a little more cautious to start the second stanza, but then one minute in Perry lifted Felder off the floor and slammed him to the canvas. Perry landed a solid elbow along the cage as Felder got back to his feet. Felder got payback with a short right hook, but Perry walked right through it. Perry appeared to be pacing himself — he was rather inactive for most of the round, but then he exploded with a hellacious uppercut that literally opened up Felder immediately. Playing possum, perhaps? It was so bloody, so soon that the referee actually stopped the action and the ringside physician cleared Felder to resume fighting. Perry scored a nice takedown, but it was actually Felder who finished the round with momentum.
Between rounds, Felder revealed to his corner that his right arm was broken. Perry, meanwhile, came out guns blazing, but Felder weathered the storm and looked to slow the pace. Perry, seemingly aiming for the wound over Felder’s right eye, landed a hard short shot. Felder fired back, but didn’t have much on his strikes. Perry looked for a takedown with one minute remaining and Felder resisted, firing off reverse elbows as best he could. True to form, Felder bit down on his mouthpiece and traded with Perry during the final 30 seconds, but nothing materialized.
It was a fun fight, which didn’t feature the finish or stoppage that most fans expected. Not the end of the world, though, as neither man is going to compete for a world title fight anytime soon. Both fighters are entertaining and lived up to their expectations — look forward to seeing them compete again sometime soon.
For complete UFC 226: “Miocic vs. Cormier” results, including play-by-play updates, click here.