Conor McGregor congratulates former rival Paul Felder on his MMA retirement

UFC superstar Conor McGregor congratulated former lightweight divisional rival Paul Felder on the recent announcement of his MMA retirement.

Felder broke the news during the UFC Vegas 27 card that he is officially stepping away from the sport and retiring at age 36. Fans, media, and fighters soon took to their social media to say kind words about “The Irish Dragon,” and McGregor was among them. Taking to his Twitter on Sunday, McGregor congratulated Felder on his fantastic UFC career.

Congrats to the “Irish Dragon” Paul Felder on his retirement!
Proper Pina Colada on me fella! #Respect @felderpaul ☘️ 🐉

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) May 23, 2021

Conor McGregor: Congrats to the “Irish Dragon” Paul Felder on his retirement! Proper Pina Colada on me fella! #Respect @felderpaul

McGregor and Felder never met inside the Octagon despite both men being top-10 ranked lightweights during the same time period. However, they did have some sort of a small rivalry as Felder’s nickname “The Irish Dragon” was something that McGregor once questioned as he didn’t believe that Felder was a fully Irish name. That led to both men going back-and-forth on social media at times over their heritages. In the end, though, it seems like the Irishman McGregor had a lot of respect for Felder based on this tweet.

For Felder, walking away from the sport at age 36 is somewhat surprising considering he was competitive in his split decision losses to Rafael dos Anjos and Dan Hooker. However, as he said during his retirement announcement, watching older fighters such as Ronaldo Souza and Donald Cerrone stick around the sport past their expiration date is not something that he wanted to do, and instead, he decided to walk away with his health still with him. While it’s sad to see Felder go, ultimately it was his decision and you have to respect it, even though there were probably other fights that he wanted, like McGregor.

We here at BJPenn.com wish Paul Felder the best in his retirement.