Expect more explosiveness from lightweight Chris Wade as he moves on in the PFL’s playoffs following a big win over Yuki Kawana at PFL 5.
Uniondale, NY — PFL 5’s Chris Wade was the hometown hero in Uniondale, NY on Thursday. Against Japan’s Yuki Kawana, he came out guns blazing, and incredibly, Kawana charged out as well. They met in the middle with Wade launching a Fabricio Werdum-style jumping kick that saw his leg sail over his opponent — but it certainly set the tone for the fight, which Wade would finish later in the round by guillotine.
Incredibly, it’s a moment Wade planned. “I think I told you guys in open workouts,” he recalled with the media backstage following PFL 5, “when I was fooling around, jumping and spinning, that I was coming for him right away. I wasn’t kidding. I told my corner, and they were like ‘just settle down man, get your guard up, see what his has coming.’ I’m like ‘nah you don’t get it, I’m going straight across the cage for him.'”
Go straight across the cage at him he did. Wade recalled looking past the ref, and seeing Kawana ready to meet him. “He didn’t know how high I could come up over him, so I knew I had the advantage.”
The submission win was a huge moment for Wade (13–4), who left the UFC off a win in 2017, and a 5-2 record in the promotion overall. Now, he’s got a shot at making a million dollars should he go all the way in the PFL tournament. After a setback against Natan Schulte in his first fight at PFL 2, Wade saw the first round finish in Long Island cinch him a playoff spot.
Being in his own backyard was no small factor. “This is a huge edge for me, fighting at home. Some people put pressure on themselves, that the people that they care about are around them, and asking them to come and support,” Wade said. “But you heard that crowd, that was crazy. I’ve never even experienced anything even like that in fighting. So the energy it gives you, knowing that every time something turns your way, you hear that crowd roar — I mean, if we could run this back every week, I would do this every week of my life. It’s amazing.”
Likening his win Thursday to a county title, Wade is looking ahead to “that national title, that million dollar prize.” The final, well, “that’s the Super Bowl.”
“This to me is like winning your division, making the playoffs. Now it’s go time,” he said. Which will mean competing in two fights in a night, the first just two rounds.
“There’s going to be a little bit of strategy and science behind that first fight, because it’s a two-rounder,” Wade told Cageside Press during Thursday’s post-fight scrum. “And if I’m not mistaken, the first round in the event of a 1-1, is going to be the tie-breaker. So to explode like that off the jump is going to be even more important. Because if you don’t get the first round, you essentially have to finish. Because there’s no third round tie-break.”
Which means whoever faces Wade in the quarter-finals needs to watch out! “I don’t know who it is that’s going to be standing across from me, but we’re going to run that back again.”
Don’t miss the full post-fight press scrum with Chris Wade from PFL 5 – watch the video above!
