Continuing on my preview for UFC 191 with a look at the featured prelim between Philadelphia’s Paul ‘ The Irish Dragon’ Felder (10-1) and Sunderland’s Ross ‘The Real Deal’ Pearson (19-9-0) in the lightweight division. The bout will see the two highly entertaining lightweights looking to get back to winning ways with both men coming off tough loses in their last fights.
Felder has been moving very quickly up the ladder since his debut in the UFC last October against Jason Saggo in Nova Scotia, Canada. His second fight in January this year ended with him knocking out UFC veteran Danny Castillo with a spinning back fist in the second round. One of only three people to finish their opponent in such a way in the UFC. Paul was due to take on another UFC veteran Jim Miller in April in New Jersey but was forced to pull out with a knee injury. He was given another massive jump in opponent last month when he stepped in for Myles Jury and took on Edson Barboza in Chicago. Despite losing the fight and his undefeated record, Paul came out of the fight looking very well after a fight of the night performance.
Despite being one year his junior, Ross Pearson is the latest UFC veteran that Paul Felder will be taking on in a row. Pearson, the winner of the Ultimate Fighter, Team UK vs USA has been fighting in the Octagon since 2010, a year before Felder even turned professional. They share a common opponent in Edson Barboza, Pearson lost to Barboza in 2011 in what was also funnily enough, a fight of the night performance.
Pearson has had a long run in the UFC. In sixteen fights, he has won nine, (ten if you include the Diego Sanchez fight that he clearly won yet somehow lost on a terrible split decision last June) has lost six and had one no contest. His last fight was a loss against Evan Dunham in a very underwhelming performance at UFC Glasgow back in July this year.
This fight is going to take place and probably end on the feet. According to the Fightmetric stats on Ross Pearson’s UFC Profile, in sixteen fights, he has only had ten takedowns in his UFC career and has had no wins by submission. His last four victories have all come from TKO’S / Knockouts including a performance of the night knockout against Sam Stout in March this year at UFC 185. A loss for Ross Pearson against Paul Felder would leave the Englishman 1-3 for the past year. which really makes this weeks fight in Las Vegas an absolute must win for him if he wants to stay in on the UFC Roster.
On the other hand, Felder has a lot of hype coming with him into this contest. His spinning back fist win against Castillo in January and the heart shown against Barboza in July has left Felder on the edge of breaking into the top fifteen of the lightweight division and has thus far made him someone to watch. Anybody who finishes someone as impressively as Felder finished Castillo deserves the attention they receive.
Felder will need an impressive win over Pearson to keep his hype train rolling on. An unconvincing performance or two could derail the train. A good example of this happening is with Uriah Hall. Uriah looked unbeatable on the Ultimate Fighter especially after his highlight reel knockout win over Adam Cella but after a few fights and poor performances on the main stage, the hype train moved on. Felder will need to build on his impressive performances to make sure he doesn’t end up like Uriah Hall did.
Both men have knockout power, I can’t really see this fight getting to the judges hands and if it does, both men will probably be receiving bonuses for fight of the night. My prediction is Felder by late TKO.
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