Paul Felder is getting ready for a showdown against Al Iquinta at UFC 223

The UFC lightweight division is full of challenges and ‘The Irish dragon’ Paul Felder will square off against ‘Raging’ Al laquinta at UFC 223. The fight is scheduled in the main card and Paul Felder thinks his pace will be the factor in this fight. He gave his thoughts about this fight to MMA Junkie radio.

“I want to be able to push the pace, since we don’t know, Al might come back better than ever. He might come back not so much. He might have some cage rust. We don’t know. So I want to be burning and firing on all cylinders for 15 minutes, hard, nonstop. No matter what.”

“All day, as hard as we can,” Felder said. “I’ll rest up as we get closer to the fight, start recovering a little bit. Start doing one or two a day the last couple of weeks. Start simulating the fight a little more, three hard fives and a minute recovery. See where we’re at. Get the weight down.

“But we’re in this (expletive) right now. We’re not playing. The beard is growing out. Rocky style over here, baby.”

“I’m eating a lot,” Felder said. “I’m eating more on this camp than most camps, especially in the carbohydrate department. Usually I’m cutting my carbs and doing high fat to even make the weight.

“But since I’m working so hard, I’m able to eat more, which helps me recover. So even though my work load is a little high this camp, so is my calorie intake.”

“I’ve got a lot of guys working a lot of leg-lock stuff on me, doing all that in case he’s been brushing up on any kind of tricky submissions and things like that,” Felder said. “I’ve got guys on my leg. I’ve got guys trying to take me down. I’ve got guys trying to box with me. So wherever we end up, we’re going to be prepared.

“And also, just trying to get better myself. I just want to be a better athlete. The fighter’s in me. That’s never been a question for me. The fight’s going to come out of me no matter what, but just making sure that we are grinding.”