UFC Chris Wade: I Thought He Knew He Got His Ass Kicked
Long Island, NY – Chris Wade (11-3) will enter the Octagon for the seventh time in his UFC career verse Frankie Perez (10-3) on July 22, 2017, at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Wade (Long Island MMA) will be fighting Perez for the second time at UFC Fight Night Long Island. The rematch of their Ring of Combat 48 split decision will take place on the early prelims on UFC Fight Pass. The early prelims are expected to start at 4 pm est. and the UFC Fight Night Long Island on Fox is headlined by former UFC middleweight champion, Chris Weidman.
Wade vs. Perez 2
Wade faces Perez for the second time, now under the UFC banner. The Long Island MMA fighter battled Perez in the co-main event at Ring of Combat 48, a little over three years ago. Wade’s victory over Perez in New Jersey was his last regional promotional bout before entering the world’s largest MMA organization, the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship).
“finally getting to fight in New York, especially on Long Island is an overwhelming feeling,” Wade said. “The thought process with me was ‘I might never get to fight in New York’ with it being illegal,” Wade mentioned to My MMA News. “Albany doesn’t feel like home, Buffalo doesn’t feel like home, Rochester doesn’t feel like home, so when the Coliseum reopened and I got word that there would be a fight there, I was like ‘I have to get on this card’, by chance it happened, I’m so excited.”
The Islip, Long Island, NY, native entered the UFC with a record of 7-1. After entering the UFC, Wade cranked out four impressive victories. In his UFC debut, he defeated Cain Carrizosa in the first round via submission, by way of Guillotine Choke, at 1:12. Now at 1-0 in the UFC, the JUCO national wrestling finalist marched forward on the UFC Fight Night 59 – McGregor vs. Siver – Fight card, which aired on Fox Sports 1. The lightweight earned a unanimous decision victory over Lipeng Zhang.
At UFC Fight Night 68 – Tim Boetsch vs. Dan Henderson – in New Orleans, LA, Wade grinded out a unanimous decision victory in the fourth bout of the evening. He defeated Christos Giagos of Black House MMA (California).
On the UFC Fight Night 81 – Cruz vs. Dillashaw – fight card, The 155-pounder choked out the Frenchmen, Mehdi Baghdad. Baghdad, also a Black House fighter, fell victim to Wade’s Rear-Naked choke in round one, at 4:30. This submission victory improved Wade’s UFC record to 4-0.
“there is always a sense of urgency to win when you’re in the UFC. A loss is never acceptable. And, now especially with two losses,” Wade said.
Wade hit a bump in the road when he fought two Russians, Rustam Khabilov and Islam Makhachev. The Islip high school graduate lost both bouts by unanimous decision but had highlight moments in each fight where he had the Russians backs against the wall. Wade understands the importance of winning this bout after suffering two losses in a row, bringing his UFC record to 4-2. Three losses consecutively could find the Long Island fighter on the wrong end of a phone call with the President of the UFC, Dana White.
“Fighting him (Perez) for the second time, naa, feels great to fight him again because I’m just finding out he thinks he won the first fight. I thought he knew he got his ass kicked but apparently, he doesn’t know he got his ass kicked, so he needs his ass kicked again even worse, so we can settle that,” Said Wade.
The former New York State High School champion looks to return to his roots for this fight as he prepares to defeat Perez for the second time. Wade is a Division III all-American and JUCO wrestling National Finalist. In their first bout, they fought to a split decision in Perez’s home state of New Jersey on the Ring of Combat 48 fight card. ROC hosts their fight cards at the Tropicana Resort & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Now, for the first ever UFC fight card on Long Island, Wade looks to make a statement against Perez, who is also coming off a unanimous decision loss at UFC Fight Night 102. Perez is 2-3 in his last five fights, including his first fight against Wade.
Perez defeated Tom Marcellino on WSOF (World Series of Fighting) 13, before falling victim to a TKO verse Johnny Case on UFC Fight Night 59, alongside Wade’s win over Zhang. Perez trains out of Ricardo Almeida Jiu-Jitsu in New Jersey.
The former New York State High School wrestling champion trains out of Long Island MMA. In addition to his fellow UFC Long Island MMA training partners, #10 Dennis Bermudez and #13 Ryan LaFlare, Long Island MMA has been cross training with LAW MMA (Longo and Weidman MMA), Bellmore Kickboxing, and Tiger Schulmann’s MMA, which includes, former UFC middleweight champion, #6 Chris Weidman, UFC light heavyweight #13 Gian Villante, UFC No. 5-ranked Jimmie Rivera, And Lyman Good. The fighters listed are just the athletes fighting on the Long Island Fox fight card. Training partners not fighting on the Long Island fight card includes Gregor Gillespie, Al Iaquinta, and Aljamain Sterling.
Watch the full interview My MMA News conducted with UFC Lightweight Chris Wade below. The interview includes the lightweight’s thoughts about Perez, Fighting on Long Island, returning to the win column, McGregor vs. Mayweather, UFC drastically underpaying their athletes, and much more.
The UFC lightweight’s fight can be viewed via UFC Fight Pass. The early prelims start at 4 pm est. followed by the Fox prelims at 6 pm and the Fox Main Card at 8 pm. If you’re still interested in supporting Islip, Long Island’s own Chris Wade, tickets can be purchased by clicking HERE.
Watch the Full Interview with Chris Wade Below:
