There’s little question that there’s some bad blood brewing between PFL 2022 featherweight semifinalists Chris Wade and Brendan Loughnane.
Early on during a head-to-head interview with the media on Tuesday, a question was posed to the featherweight pair about whether they’d share a beer after their fight.
“Nah, I don’t like this guy mate,” Loughnane shot back immediately. “There’ll be no f*cking beers or brews for him.”
Wade was on a similar page. “It’s not too often that I become friendly with the guys that I compete with,” the American stated. “It’s not something I feel is important in fighting.”
That was the start to a number of back-and-forth exchanges. But before things completely devolved, Wade summed up the situation rather succinctly.
“Calling it personal and then calling it fighting, I think they’re very close things,” Wade explained. “Listen, we both want the same thing. We want that belt, we want that strap, we’re in each other’s way. So you’re damn right it’s personal. I’ve got a family over here, he’s got a family over there. He thinks he’s the man and that he’s the best, I disagree. I think it’s my division.”
Wade has made it known that he has some issues surrounding both his pay with the PFL, and the fact that he missed out on a chance to fight at home in New York as part of last week’s card. Instead, he’ll head to London to face Loughnane, which puts Wade in enemy territory.
The American believes the league gave Loughnane an easy path to fighting at home. “The last fight [Loughnane had], they had to sign a guy that was 0-2 in his last two fights so that they could make sure this guy gets a win, so that he’s actually here to perform,” claimed Wade. “Because otherwise, it was probably going to be [Sheymon] Moraes.”
Loughnane pointed out that his original opponent had pulled out on three day’s notice. “Do I pick my opponents?” the Brit questioned.
“I think you might,” Wade shot back, adding that Loughnane had claimed earlier in the year that he would face Wade then. “In two years, you haven’t fought [Lance] Palmer, you haven’t fought Bubba [Jenkins], you haven’t fought me. How’d you pull that off, Brendan?”
“The guy I fought is in the semifinal,” Loughnane replied. Ryoji Kudo, who Loughnane defeated during the regular season, is indeed in the playoffs. He faces Bubba Jenkins in the other semifinal match-up.
If the distaste for one another wasn’t clear, Wade underscored it moments later.
“Something that you don’t understand, you’re playing on like ‘oh he’s whining,’ this and that. My money stuff with the PFL, that’s got nothing to do with you. I will f*cking fight you for free in the road, do you understand me?” he fired at Loughnane. “In the road. I will fight you with nobody watching. And whoever comes out, they hang out at the bar and have drinks. If you want it, let’s change the rules. You want to change the rules? Let’s throw soccer kicks at each other when we’re down. Let’s throw elbows. Let’s do it.”
There will be no soccer kicks, nor elbows (the PFL does not allow them during tournaments), but there should be a heated fight between Chris Wade and Brendan Loughnane come PFL 9 on August 20.
