The great thing about last minute replacement fights is that a lot of the time, the replacement match-up is more exciting than the original pairing. Raphael Dos Anjos vs Islam Makhachev was an awesome fight, and you never want to hear of fighters having to pull out because of injury. But dos Anjos vs Paul Felder, under these circumstances, is a far more intriguing affair.
There isn’t anything Felder can show dos Anjos that he hasn’t seen and dealt with in the past. He is the favorite in this fight because he has had a full training camp, preparing to fight Makhachev at lightweight. RDA will have had plenty of time to make weight; Felder, even training for a triathalon, will have his first battle at the scales, with just days to make weight. But despite all that, dos Anjos is still only a slight favorite, because of just how dangerous Paul Felder is.
But in taking a short-notice fight against a dangerous former champ, a match-up Felder had declined in the past, is he signaling that he knows something the rest of us don’t?
Check out the video above for our preview of a very compelling main event this weekend at UFC Vegas 14.
