It may offer little comfort to Paul Felder, who contemplated hanging up the gloves after his split decision loss to Dan Hooker at UFC Auckland, but the UFC has awarded the pair Fight of the Night honors. The lightweight duo topped the Fight Night card Saturday, and put on exactly the sort of fight fans were expecting when the bout was announced. Two of the grittiest fighters in a division full of them, Hooker and Felder pulled no punches, battling it out for a full five rounds.
Felder’s eye swelled shut early. By the end of the bout, Hooker’s jaw appeared to have become malformed somewhere along the way. And through it all, both fighters refused to back down.
Resulting in the scene below post-fight.
Standing O for these two tonight 👏 #UFCAuckland pic.twitter.com/6tp6K2KF5t
— UFC (@ufc) February 23, 2020
If Felder does call it a career, he has his broadcast job waiting, and will go down as a fan favorite. Hooker, meanwhile, called out Justin Gaethje after the fight. While ‘The Highlight’ has been eying a title fight or potential meeting with Conor McGregor, Gaethje vs. Hooker certainly has a nice ring to it.
Performance of the Night honors at UFC Auckland, meanwhile went to Jimmy Crute, for his kimura submission of Michał Oleksiejczuk in the night’s co-main event, and Priscila Cachoeira, who opened up the card with an uppercut knockout of Shana Dobson.
$50,000 will go to each bonus winner.
