UFC Fight Night 105's Paul Felder wants to go undefeated in 2017, 'put butts in those seats'

HALIFAX – After ending 2016 on a losing note, Paul Felder has certainly kicked off his new year in much different fashion.

Following his “Performance of the Night” first-round TKO of fellow striker Alessandro Ricci (10-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC) at Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 105, a relieved Felder (13-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) celebrated the positive outcome, his new home at Roufusport and the first step toward his 2017 goal of “going undefeated.”

“Whether it’s ranked, unranked, it doesn’t matter,” Felder told MMAjunkie. “What the UFC wants is guys that go out there, finish fights, throw down, and puts butts in those seats. That’s my plan for 2017. I want people to go, ‘(Expletive), you know what, that Felder guy is fighting, I want to turn on and watch it.’

“And that’s something I learned from my boy ‘Cowboy’ (Cerrone), man. You put butts in those seats, the UFC is going to keep you around.”

The lightweight bout opened up the main card of Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 105 event at Scotiabank Centre. It aired on FS1 following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Like he did when asked by Brian Stann inside the octagon, Felder didn’t issue any call-outs backstage. As part of the promotion’s stacked 155-pound division, he says, he can pretty much close his eyes and randomly point at a name and probably land suitable competition.

However, after bouncing back in such devastating style from a TKO loss to Francisco Trinaldo at last September’s UFC Fight Night 95, “The Irish Dragon” does believe he’s earned some higher-up competition moving forward.

“Taking absolutely nothing against Alex, but this was a fight that I was expected to win,” Felder said. “This is a fight that I was a heavy favorite in. I didn’t want to know any of that, because I know who Alex is, I’ve researched him, I was supposed fight him back at CFFC back in 2014, before I was signed. And I know how tough he can be. So I was never underestimating him.

“But you know in the back of your head, the UFC is going to look at this, you go on a two-fight losing streak, against a guy that lost his debut, I had to come out and put on a strong performance. Now, of course, I want somebody better. I don’t know who, somebody that’s obviously coming off a nice win too, and we’ll see.”

One idea, Felder says, is to check back with his fellow teammates at Roufusport and maybe try to put together a training camp with a handful of names.

“I’m healthy,” Felder said. “(I’ll) get back with Roufusport, Duke (Roufus), and I want to see who else from the UFC at our gym is fighting. See what Sergio (Pettis) is doing, see what Anthony (Pettis) wants to do eventually, Gerald (Meerschaert, who’d won earlier that night). If we can get a few of us on the same card, whenever they’re going, I’ll slide back in the camp with those guys, I think.”

To hear more from Felder on his big win, his new team and what the octagon future holds, check out the video above.

And for complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 105, check out the UFC Events section of the site.