For a minute, it seemed Paul Felder’s Twitter account might get him into a fight outside the octagon.
A back and forth online exchange between Felder, Marvin Vettori, ended with Vettori promising an in-person encounter at UFC Vegas 41..
If not for UFC producers, Felder said, things might have gotten heated at the fighter meetings for the event this past October.
“They said, “Guys. OK. Before we start. I know there has been back-and forth. We’re going to handle it like adults – you guys can vent both your stories.’ Felder spoke on The MMA Hour . “Marvin gave his reasons on why he felt slighted and whatever, and I gave my reasons on why I didn’t think I did anything that was really against him, and we kind of hashed it out. And ever since, we’ve been… I don’t think he’s going to be my best friend or likes me necessarily, but I feel like there’s no real bad blood there.”
Vettori claimed Felder was biased when he called a fight between Nasrat Haqparast and Dan Hooker, his training partner at UFC 266.. The Italian middleweight called the fighter-turned-commentator a “puppet.”
Felder defended himself against Vettori on Twitter, writing that he wasn’t favoring one fighter over the other and was trying to be professional. He came to an agreement with Vettori after much deliberation.
” “If Marvin wants to kick me ass at this point, let’s just be honest, it probably would,” Felder stated. “He’s a top middleweight right now, and I’m a very skinny former fighter who commentates and does triathlons on the side.”
Such interactions are one of the main reasons Felder doesn’t pick up his phone to check Twitter while he’s working.
” Not anymore, bro,” he stated. “I fell into that trap, too, early on. I’d be like, ‘Oh, we’re on a nice five-minute break, they’re playing some features, I don’t have to do to the bathroom, let me scroll through Twitter,’ and it’s just like, ‘Felder sucks! Get him off of this! This guy is a scumbag fighter and a commentator !’
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“The quicker you realize that it’s every single one of us… there’s always going to be somebody out there that thinks we absolutely suck, whether it’s [Daniel Cormier, Dominick Cruz, Michael Bisping,] me, Laura [Sanko], you, it doesn’t matter – somebody’s going to think we absolutely suck, and now, in today’s world, anybody, no matter who you are, no matter how bad your life is, you can go and tell somebody else that they suck. So it took me a while to realize that, and now, I truly do believe I’ve grown a thick skin.”
Felder didn’t quit Twitter entirely, of course. For all the negatives of being dragged online, there are quite a few positives – namely, dragging trolls who believe they can get away with being rude.
Felder was challenged by one of his online adversaries to repeat an insult verbally. This proved to be one of Felder’s most hilarious – and viral moments. The troll admitted he valued his own life too much.
Let it be known that if you’re a hater and you find yourself getting a response from Felder, it’s because he’s bored. “I love to rip them a new one,” he said. He’s not working when he is working on the mic.
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