Paul Felder describes urinating blood after first Edson Barboza fight

UFC 242 promises to be an action-packed event full of anticipated match ups. That includes a rematch between long-time lightweight contenders Paul Felder and Edson Barboza.

The lightweight fighters first touched gloves in 2015 at UFC on FOX 16 in Chicago, Illinois. They went three rounds, and Barboza ended up securing victory by unanimous decision. It was the first loss of Felder’s career.

In the lead-up to their looming rematch, Felder reflected on the painful loss that resulted in nausea and even urinating in his blood.

“You’re under a lot of pressure in there; there’s the crowd and there’s the ref talking to you the whole time and your opponent is just standing on the other side of the Octagon. There are a lot of things pushing you to just continue the match. I did that and I’m sure it negatively affected me for sure. That had me sick to my stomach for a while there, I was peeing blood after the fight,” he said on MMA’s fighting Eurobash podcast (transcript via MMA Fighting).

Felder recalls absorbing Barboza’s signature spinning kicks, which Joe Rogan hails as the best in the UFC roster. ‘The Irish Dragon’ absorbed them in the first round and was left feeling “sick to his stomach.”

“I’m not going to blame that on why I lost,” he said. “You could, I guess, if you wanted to find a way out, but it didn’t help things, that’s for sure. I feel like I had pretty good momentum in that round and then I took that shot and I didn’t take a lot of time to recover, because that’s how it is when we’re in there.”

Despite the negative experience. Felder has a lot of respect for Barboza and is confident he can rectify his loss:

“I fought him and he beat me, the first loss of my professional career. I’m very excited and hungry to get it back… and nervous, but good nerves, it’s a very exciting fight for me and it excited me the first time.”

Watch Paul Felder and Edson Barboza go head-to-head on September 7, 2019, in Abu Dhabi. Click here to find out how to watch.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/20/2019.