PFL 2 2019 was another hometown fight for Andre Harrison, as he was 15 minutes away from his hometown when he dominated Peter Petties to take home a decision victory.
Uniondale, NY – Andre Harrison got the job done at PFL 2 2019, utilizing heavy top control to defeat Peter Petties and earn three points. What made it even better was doing it so close to home. Unlike his Long Island counterpart Chris Wade, Harrison was pleased with his outing.
“Overall, I think I could have been more active in certain areas. But you can say anything from the outside looking in. But when you’re in there, things go differently. I did what I needed to do to make sure I secured the win, pushed the action where I could have and went from there.”
Fighting at home has its benefits and issues. “The Bull” experience both on fight night.
“I don’t know how many of you in here competed or anything like that, but the day of the fight, after you weigh-in, you’re so happy and excited because you get to rehydrate and eat again after not doing so for however long. But after you do all that, you’re just waiting around for the fight to happen. While you’re sitting there, so many thoughts go through your head. It’s the worst thing ever. Especially when you’re home. When you’re on away, yeah, you’re on TV and everyone can watch you and everything. But it’s a whole different ballgame walking out there and seeing people you know that you haven’t seen in years or they have kids that look up to you. It’s a whole different ballgame. It definitely adds a bit of pressure, but in times where you need to man up or muscle up and do what you need to do, it definitely helps as well.”
The wrestling-first gameplan may not have been very appealing to viewers, but Harrison was certainly not trying to make it lackluster.
“While we were down there and hand-fighting, there were a couple of times when he grabbed my wrist from awkward angles. If you look at the first round, there were a couple of times where I was trying to jerk my hand out, I just couldn’t get it away. It’s not like I just wanted to lay there. If you’re on top of somebody with good position, you want to hit him. He comes from a good camp too. It’s not like he’s just some scrub who happened to walk in. He knows what he’s doing in there.”
Harrison started his career off marvelously at 20-0, but came up short in the semifinals last season to eventual champion Lance Palmer. That first taste of defeat has added fuel to his fire.
“Motivated. Last year didn’t end the way I wanted it to end so this year I have to do everything I can to make sure it ends the way I think it should end.”
The Bellmore Kickboxing product was incredibly close to getting a bonus point late in the third round when he nearly sunk in a rear-naked choke. Unfortunately, Petties slipped out, leaving Harrison with three points in the standings.
“You saw how deep that choke was huh? That’s going to be on my mind this whole time. Originally, I don’t know if he turned the wrong way or if he just turned halfway and just stopped, but it just slipped right under and I went to go get it, but by that time he had already gone back down to the mat and it was over.”
Check out the rest of the post-fight press conference above!
