LI favorites Harrison, Wade out of the PFL Finals for the second year in a row

Last year, both Andre Harrison (featherweight) and Chris Wade (lightweight) were favorites heading into the PFL Finals. Both lost in unfortunate fashion in the later rounds (in Wade’s case, there was some controversy involved). This year felt like a case of deja vu, as both will not be fighting on New Year’s Eve once again for that $1 million prize.

At PFL 8 (19th card of the league) in Last Vegas, Harrison (21-2-1) was finished for the first time in his career thanks to an Alex Gilpin submission. The quarterfinal matchup denied Harrison a chance at facing defending champion Lance Palmer, who easily won both of his matchups. Harrison was controlling the first round, using kicks and strikes to the body to slow down Gilpin.

Unfortunately for Harrison, he couldn’t win via style points. In the second, Gilpin used Harrison’s momentum against him. As Harrison was going to go for a takedown, Gilpin reversed and pushed him to the ground, cranking on the neck of Harrison. Prior to tapping out, Harrison landed over 46 strikes to Gilpin’s two.

That was the first time Harrison had been finished in his career. The unpredictability of the PFL came into play here. Harrison is now 5-2-1 in the PFL.

As for Wade (17-6), he once again made it to the semifinals. The quarterfinals saw the Rockville Centre-born wrestler use his impressive ground game to tie down Nate Andrews. Takedown after takedown made for an easy and damage-free outing for Wade. The judges scored the bout 19-19, 20-18, 20-18 in favor of Wade.

The semifinals appear to be Wade’s kryptonite, however. Unlike the loss to Natan Schulte last season, Wade was outstruck but Loik Radzhabov 57-27. All three judges ended up scoring the bout 30-27, and it appeared that Wade was not surprised. Wade is now 5-3 in the PFL.

Radzhabov will now face Schulte at the PFL Finals, while Palmer will face Daniel Pineda.