Despite Cerrone friendship, Paul Felder not taking full-on 'Cowboy' approach to fighting

CHICAGO – Paul Felder owes some things to Donald Cerrone, and maybe that plays out a little inside the cage.

But outside, don’t expect to see Felder doing 360s on a wakeboard or kicking back with a few brews mid-training camp anytime soon.

“That’s where we differ a little bit – how we handle ourselves in everyday life,” Felder told MMAjunkie about his friend “Cowboy,” a fellow UFC lightweight. “He’s pretty much a wild man all over the place. When I’m training for fight camps, I’m quite the opposite. I’ve got to train three times a day, I’ve got to eat real clean, and he’s off having a Budweiser after practice. I’m like, ‘How do you do it? You still look freaking amazing in the cage.’ But I think that’s why we get along real well – we’re polar opposites.”

Felder (10-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) today steps into the octagon for the third time and puts his unbeaten record on the line against Edson Barboza (15-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) on the main card of UFC on FOX 16. The show takes place at United Center in Chicago, with the main card on FOX following prelims on FOX and UFC Fight Pass.

Felder debuted in the promotion this past fall and picked up a split-decision win over Jason Saggo in Canada. But his coming-out party was a “Performance of the Night” bonus win over Danny Castillo at UFC 182 in January. A spinning backfist closed Castillo’s eyes in the second round, but it opened up plenty of others.

A knee injury sidelined him from a quicker turnaround earlier this year, but now he returns with a high-profile matchup against a highly regarded striker. Barboza is currently No. 12 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings. He’s No. 7 on the UFC’s list.

But the big fight this early in his UFC tenure is something the hard-hitting Felder knew he wanted out of the gate.

“When I got called up, I wanted to be on the fast track to begin with,” he said. “I’m really good friends with Donald Cerrone, and once we knew I got the call it was like, ‘Let’s go and try to make some noise and get there as fast as we can.’ I’m not some 22-year-old kid. I’m 31 years old – in the prime of my career, in my opinion, because I didn’t take a lot of damage as a youngster. I’m ready to go right now. That statement I made at 182 – I kind of had that setback with the knee injury, but it kind of worked out in the end.”

And it’s a story he’ll continue to say is working out if he beats Barboza, a slight favorite, on his biggest stage yet.

Check out the video above for more from Felder.

For more on UFC on FOX 16, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.