Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Former UFC lightweight contender Paul Felder, who transitioned to the commentary table after retiring from MMA back in early 2021, recently had a war of words with longtime middleweight bruiser Marvin Vettori (relive that drama here).
So it would be surprising to hear Felder riding those Italian “nuts.”
“Paul Felder was shocking when calling that fight,” a Twitter fan wrote on social media, tagging “The Irish Dragon” in the process. “I usually like Felder but his bias was so apparent and he was really annoying to listen to during this fight. Terrible calls from Felder.”
Felder was on the call for the UFC Vegas 75 middleweight main event last weekend in “Sin City,” where Vettori was mauled by fellow 185-pound title hopeful Jared Cannonier across five rounds of increasingly one-sided action.
“The Italian Dream” was praised in defeat for his insanely durable chin.
“This blows my mind,” Felder responded. “Jared is Top 5 one of my favorite fighters at present. Marvin is a guy who publicly called me out for being ‘biased.’ Now I’m riding his ‘nuts.’ All I did was talk about how durable he was and how I couldn’t believe he stayed in there. You can’t win.”
Claims of commentary bias come with the job. Everyone from Joe Rogan to the unapologetic Daniel Cormier and even Michael Bisping get dragged through the virtual streets by angry fans (and fighters) with an allegiance to certain athletes.
Just try to avoid those rusty trombones on fight night.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
