UFC release behind-the-scenes footage of Paul Felder's five-day preparation for Rafael dos Anjos fight

The UFC has released the behind-the-scenes footage of Paul Felder’s five-day preparation for his UFC Vegas 14 main event matchup against Rafael dos Anjos.

Paul Felder’s incredible journey through the grueling five days, his fight, and the aftermath have all been highlighted in the video that’s been posted on UFC’s official YouTube channel.

Paul Felder accepted a five-round fight against RDA on five days’ notice

A Short-notice fight is considered to be a double-edged sword; in the sense that if the fighter wins, the win would hold even more significance than one under normal circumstances.

However, if a fighter loses the short-notice matchup, particularly after taking a significant amount of damage in the bout, it could prove to be detrimental to their body and career in the long run.

Less than a week out from the UFC Vegas 14 event that was scheduled to take place on November 14th, 2020, one half of the event’s headlining bout, Islam Makhachev, pulled out of his fight against Dos Anjos.

Makhachev was dealing with a staph infection due to which he had no choice but to withdraw from his much-awaited fight against the former UFC Lightweight champion at UFC Vegas 14.

This fight marked a paradigm shift in Dos Anjos’ MMA career as well since it was his first fight back in the Lightweight division after he’d spent the past few years at Welterweight.

The fight was a highly significant one for both RDA and Makhachev with the former setting forth on his quest to recapture the UFC Lightweight title, whereas the latter was looking for a marquee win over a big name.

Nevertheless, with Makhachev pulling out of the headlining fight, the entire UFC Vegas 14 event was on the precipice of being canceled.

Thankfully, UFC commentator and analyst Paul Felder offered his services by stepping in to replace Islam Makhachev and fight Dos Anjos in the headlining bout of UFC Vegas 14.

Paul Felder put on a valiant performance at UFC Vegas 14

Paul Felder has been a Lightweight contender for several years, but he’d retired from the sport of MMA in February of this year after losing to Dan Hooker via split decision.

Felder has, for a long, been working as an analyst and commentator for UFC. The well-rounded MMA stalwart has garnered widespread praise for both his fighting style as well as commentary duties.

The behind-the-scenes footage posted by UFC showed the cancelation of RDA vs. Makhachev and chronicled Paul Felder stepping in to save the Vegas 14 fight card.

Another important segment highlighted in the footage is that of the unfathomable challenges that the fighters go through during the weight-cutting process.

Paul Felder is known to be a fairly big lightweight who cuts down to make the 155-pound limit (156 pounds upper limit for non-title lightweight bouts).

The footage let fans in on how hard The Irish Dragon worked to cut down to the lightweight limit. It was also reiterated that this was for a fight he’d taken on five days’ notice against a dangerous former UFC lightweight champion.

Lightweights, watch out!🇧🇷 @RdosAnjosMMA is back and ready to make a run. #UFCVegas14 pic.twitter.com/PC9tKyqM74

— UFC (@ufc) November 15, 2020

FIRED UP.@FelderPaul is far from done 😤 #UFCVegas14 pic.twitter.com/BLCULhfzB8

— UFC (@ufc) November 15, 2020

Furthermore, highlights from the five-round war between Paul Felder and Rafael dos Anjos were also included in the footage. Felder had his moments on the feet, but the fight was largely dominated by RDA who utilized his grappling skills and mixed in his kickboxing combinations to secure the win.

The latter part of the footage featured Paul Felder emerging as a winner despite having lost the fight to RDA via a split decision. Felder insinuated that he felt rejuvenated by the entire experience and isn’t likely to retire anytime soon.