Choking out Andre Harrison at PFL 8 2019, Alex Gilpin set up a semifinal scrap with defending featherweight champ Lance Palmer.
The second fight in on the PFL 8 2019 card at the Mandalay Bay Event Center in Las Vegas on Thursday saw promotion favorite Andre Harrison walk to the cage for one of two possible playoff bouts. Opposite the #5 featherweight seed was #4 seed Alex Gilpin. Gilpin had split his pair of regular season fights, going 1-1, while Harrison entered the playoffs off a win, and a majority draw against Movlid Khaybulaev.
The winner of this scrap would take on Lance Palmer in the semifinals, after Palmer won the card’s opening fight.
With the touch of the gloves the pair were off, standing toe-to-toe at center. Harrison fired a couple of body kicks. Gilpin would then shoot for a takedown, lightning quick. Harrison sprawled, stuffed the attempt, and escaped back to center. Gilpin would fire a kick to the body, and they’d trade before another Gilpin shoot was brushed off by ‘Dre the Bull.’ An inside trip by Gilpin, however, would get the fight down. Harrison scrambled up, with Gilpin working to take the back. Gilpin then latched on with a guillotine, pulling guard in the process. When he couldn’t pull it off, however, Gilpin had to contend with Harrison in his guard.
Gilpin opened the second round with a left and a right, while Harrison targeted the body. The pair were trading single strikes and two-punch combos, with Harrison having greater effect, at one point kicking the legs out from under Gilpin. Harrison then pressed his opponent up against the cage and took him down with a double-leg. However as Harrison attempted to battle Gilpin on the ground, Gilpin locked in a front choke. Harrison refused to tap, and went out!
The choke (announced incorrectly as a guillotine) marked the first time Harrison had been submitted. Or finished period.
Official Result: Alex Gilpin def. Andre Harrison by technical submission (ninja choke), Round 2, 1:49
