Chris Wade comes into PFL 2 2019 as one of the big names in the lightweight division, and he’ll be taking on highly-touted prospect Nate Andrews in his first regular season matchup.
Uniondale, NY – Chris Wade will be at home for PFL 2 2019. The Long Islander lives in Islip, New York, about a half hour away from the Nassau Coliseum. A fight camp and weight-cut where travel is not necessary is a dream for fighters, and it allowed Wade to still be a family man right up until weigh-ins.
“I feel amazing. People say that just to say it but honestly, this is one of the best camps I’ve ever had. This is one of the best weight cuts I’ve ever had. I couldn’t believe the energy I had compared to when I was the alternate for the championship fight where I felt like I was going to die during the weight cut. I had juice this morning. I was saying earlier, I was able to be a dad this morning, I had my daughter. I was able to cut weight, wake her up, get her ready for school, take her to school, and then I drove here and weighed in after. I kept my priorities in order. I had the energy to do that. I think she helped me not feel sorry for myself this morning and distracted me from that weight cut.”
Wade’s run in the first season of PFL ended in less than desirable fashion. He was on the losing end of a controversial decision to eventual champion Natan Schulte in the semi-finals of the lightweight tournament. This led to a very driven Chris Wade coming into the second season of PFL.
“It’s a lot of fuel. There was a lot of self-reflection and a lot of fuel. I needed to get better. I said earlier this week. I lost that fight because he took me down and laid in guard. That was his strategy. But I’m a New York state champion, why’d I let this guy take me down two times. I made adjustments so he couldn’t take me down with throws anymore, and then he snuck one on me and hit me with the double leg because I was tall and wild and trying to hit him with strikes. I need to keep my focus in there. Keep that cool. Not get too tall. Not present those opportunities to my opponents.”
Wade will be taking on Nate Andrews tonight. Andrews is a 15-1 prospect who has choked out his last seven opponents under the CES banner. Wade isn’t worried about that at all.
“I think with [Nate] Andrews, he has no wrestling. I don’t think he has any wrestling defense either. So it’s going to open up a lot of things for me. Whether he says or not, that’s something he has to deal with and worry about. I’ve fought 20 times professionally, I’ve fought in the UFC, I’ve never been finished and I’ve fought jiu-jitsu black belts before, I’ve fought Dagestani Russians, I’ve fought Sambo champions, Islam Makhachev. I’m going to shoot a takedown when I want to shoot a takedown, I’m not concerned that you choked guys out in CES.”
While this fight is still ahead of him tonight, Wade has his sights set on a rematch with Schulte. This time, there will be no question who the winner is in his mind.
“In the playoffs, I want him in a five round fight in final because I’ll break him and I’ll have extra rounds to just keep beating on him. If it comes down to semis again, it is what it is. I think it’s stupid if we have to fight in the regular season again because of what we’ve built against each other to this point. From PFL’s perspective, if they save that, it’s going to make for a good fall. Wouldn’t you want that back if you felt like there was a mill on the line and you outstruck the dude by… I doubled him up, I know that. I know I quadrupled him up on just attempts and being active. And you get rewarded for moving forward? It just confuses me. I understand cage control and whatnot, it’s just vague, very vague. I don’t know what that means. If you’re moving forward, but you’re eating shots, that’s different than moving forward and throwing shots and giving out that damage. You know how I feel about judging, we don’t need to go there.”
Check out the rest of the scrum above and catch Chris Wade’s fight on the main card of PFL 2 2019 tonight starting at 9:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+!
